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Turns out that Gwen really looks tinted.
Miles gazed at the calm face with closed eyelids; fuzzy pinks, purples and yellows brushed in a gradient.
Gwen and he were from different worlds. Literally.
And ever since they decided to start dating, the small differences in how their dimensions worked came to the fore more and more. Not that it's a particular challenge. They knew how to navigate that.
Took effort, patience and dedication. But it worked. After everything that had already happened, the discrepancy in reality was more interesting than problematic.
The two of them were enjoying the sunset at the top of the Williamsburg Bank Building, in his hideout that had become theirs, a well-deserved break from patrolling.
Gwen sat in front of him, her head and back resting against his chest. Miles with his arms around her, resting his chin on soft hair.
That's when the thought came to Miles and he finally decided to check.
It's not as if he hadn't noticed it before. On the contrary, caught his attention soon as his eyes landed on her, in a dark room where the projector was the only source of illumination. How the blue light spread not in hard angles, but like watercolored trails, spreading like water.
He was no longer thirteen, and so much, so much, had happened between them. But somehow, this fact never changed. Seemed natural for Gwen to be that way, sparkling and colorful, bathed in light, with no rigid markings. Just softness.
Even though Miles found it fascinating that the aesthetic was a stark contrast to how she acted and was.
The girl who etched a ferocity coming from sheer perseverance and will to defend in the final battle against Spot and Miguel in his mind always linked more to an unstoppable force than a helpless painting.
But the fact is that Gwen is tinted, the colors on her is the definitive proof.
"You know," he began, basking in the pleasant warmth of the late afternoon, "I hadn't realized that you're tinted."
"Hmm?" Gwen moved, changing position to look at him. Her eyebrows knitted together.
Miles moved his hand above her body. "The colors, they spread on you."
A small smile appeared on Gwen's face. "You're the second person to say that to me."
He tilted his head sideways at the surprising information. "Who was the first?"
"Margo, on our first game night at headquarters." There was foundness in the words.
"Did you guys have game nights back there already?" Miles made a mental note to ask Margo more about it.
He's aware that the two had a girls' game night founded by them that currently involved Peni, Jess and a few other spiders from the multiverse (Silk even held the current record as the primary winner of the games, much to Margo's competitive chagrin).
He just didn't expect how remote this origin was.
Gwen snorted at his answer. "Several. We're friends for a reason."
"So you weren't jealous of her?" He teased with a mischievous grin and Gwen rolled her eyes, poking the side of his ribs, eliciting a few giggles.
"Of course I was. But that doesn't mean we'd be mortal enemies because of it. Humanity has evolved enough for two girls to be friends despite boys, thank you very much." She snuggled back against him.
"Oh, so fighting for me isn't worth it?" Miles was only being purely whimsical at that point.
Gwen intertwined her fingers with his, voice in a sweet, distant cadence. "Of course it is. You know that."
Miles knew. Because he had seen it.
He saw how Gwen stood up and faced her mistakes, regardless of the outcome or forgiveness because was the right thing. How she corrected every problem she had created, fighting not only for him, but for his parents, community, friends and dimension.
Facing her own fate of death hanging over.
Miles had no idea of the Gwens' fate. Or what happened to her father, a gun pointed at his head even after the revelation that every spider feared. Of how it was an escape for a greater reason, months on a tightrope that could doom her with just one false step, only after the situation got out of hand.
Miles drew conclusions from what he had and never thought his feelings were unjustified, not even now. What she, Peter and the others had done was wrong. Was his father, his right to decide. Neither of them tried to erase that fact.
But, man, how different things would have been if he'd had all the information.
Because even with all the anger and disappointment, even feeling vindicated with the apologies he deserved, because heavens they were, knowing what Gwen had been through, that his worst nightmares were her reality, made him see things in a different perspective.
That Gwen had to go through everything alone in something that he could only describe as a distorted and worsened reality of his.
There were days when Spiderman's weight seemed unbearable, even with the support of the city. There were nights when he broke out in a cold sweat waking up from a nightmare in which his father took him captive without remorse. That only his unconditional forgiveness kept him from feeling guilty for Uncle Aaron's death.
Miles had no idea how would act in the circumstances in which Gwen had to act.
He knew that after everything he'd found out, what she'd done, there would be no room for resentment.
He loved her too much, understood too much for that. They really were the same in the important ways. Neither of them deserved to suffer so much.
And he'll never tire of thanking the Web of Life and Fate every day that it's over.
"Mamá mentioned that by the way." His arms wrapped around Gwen's waist again. "She asked me if it was a spider thing and why it was only you."
"You can answer that it's just me. Courtesy of Earth-65." He could see the look on her face even though her back was turned. The playful tone was a great clue. "But you never really noticed?"
"No. For me, you looking like a work of art kind of always came naturally. Even if it was obviously different, it just... made sense." She's beautiful like that.
Gwen stroked the back of his hand with her thumb. "You're cute."
"Can I say I'm dating a work of art, then?" He asked, resting his head on the soft strands once again.
"Well, you're an artist. Makes sense, doesn't it?" And the laugh that followed reverberated throughout his chest.
Miles closed his eyes. "Yeah. You're right."
The thing about having an interdimensional girlfriend is that it's not just the culture clash due to their different backgrounds, but all their perceptions of culture, etiquette and how the world works are fundamentally different.
Some things that existed in Miles' New York weren't even considered in Gwen's, and vice versa.
They came to the conclusion that they never got used to it and that was fine. They both had enough patience and love to make everything work.
Like now.
Because, apparently, Earth-65 was not blessed with the gifts of the M & M's.
"That's so delicious! Why do the best things only exist on your Earth?" Gwen pulled her arms around his as she devoured handfuls and handfuls of colorful dots from a bag.
They talked to Hobbie, Margo and Pav about each other's dimension foods during one of the patrols and Gwen apparently lived on the only Earth of the Spiderband without the candy in question.
She genuinely looked on the verge of tears with the puppy-dog eyes when heard the description - courtesy of Pav - of the sweet, almost as if a fundamental element of her livelihood had been cruelly denied.
Miles knew where to go the next weekly date.
He kept her in the dark about where they were going until the multicolored glass façade came into view and Miles could swear that Gwen was glowing yellow, the biggest beaming smile shining on her face.
She pulled him by the collar for a quick kiss before claiming his arm and pulling him inside.
The world of M&M's was a feast for the eyes. Gwen couldn't stop gazing at the mascot statues, branded merchandise and giant shelves crammed with products, taking selfies of the two of them at every little interesting detail in her eyes.
Needless to say, she was completely at ease, even with the crowd of visitors flanking them on the sides.
Not that Miles noticed them much.
Gwen was radiant and, between watching her spellbound all the time covered in multicolored lights like the aurora borealis and having her on the radar calling him all the time, there was little perception left for the surroundings.
It may have been silly, but Miles loved having all her attention. Something about the soft gazes reserved just for him caused a warmth in his chest.
But then the attention that until then had belonged only to him was diverted to the wall equipped as far as the eye could see with giant tubes with overflowing M&Ms and all Miles knew afterwards was that he had been waiting on his feet for forty-five minutes with an ecstatic Gwen in a queue waiting for do-it-yourself sweets.
"I owe my candy-loving life to you, really!" She rested her head on his shoulder, holding out the bag as an offering. Miles took a handful.
"You're welcome. All for my girlfriend who doesn't know about this gift from the multiverse." He popped a few M&Ms in his mouth. "What's on Earth-65 instead of this place by the way?"
"The Snickers factory," Gwen's smug smirk showed that she knew exactly what she was doing. "And speaking of which..."
From the pocket of her salmon sweater, she pulled out a small brown bar decorated with what looked like red graffiti and his name written in stylized letters like on her stickers.
"For me?" He didn't blink, mesmerized by the caramel and peanuts delight in front of him. Which coincidentally is his favorite candy.
"Made to measure. Courtesy of me," Gwen announced, pleased.
He must have looked like a deer caught in the headlights, "How did you know-"
"Don't question it." She handed him the bar he opened and promptly took a bite, her face wide-eyed and bright.
"Well?" Gwen asked expectantly.
Miles looked at her seriously." Our next date will be in your dimension."
Miles was a sensitive boy.
He was an artist, someone with advanced emotional maturity for his age, was natural. That's probably why he couldn't look at the scene in front of the doorframe, a shopping bag in his hands, without wanting to cry.
Objectively speaking, was no big deal.
His mamá had asked to have Gwen over for dinner that night, a arroz con gandules she'd been wanting to prepare for days, and she not only excitedly agreed, but insisted on helping to prepare everything she could.
Needless to say, his mother was delighted with the information and delighted when Gwen arrived an hour and a half early, almost vibrating with excitement.
That's how the two of them ended up with plates in hand, setting the table decorated with a beautiful tablecloth with patterned flowers, and chatting with smiles and laughter.
Miles had just returned from the market, bringing a few missing ingredients, the unacknowledged presence of the two women in the kitchen, unaware that he had the ideal place to watch the interaction unfold. His father would be arriving in half an hour and the smell of divine Puerto Rican cuisine hung in the air.
Maybe that's what got to him.
Everything was so painfully domestic, ordinary and memorable in the way that small everyday events could be. So right and perfect that he could feel it deep down in his bones, and that everything might be so fragile but it was still there.
Miles never feared that Mama wouldn't like Gwen.
Not after the way she supported them, even when she didn't have all the facts. When his father told her how she looked at Gwen when she came to clarify everything, sweetness and a certainty that only mothers could have.
And especially not after Gwen saved his mother from the rubble.
It had all happened too quickly, but still in slow motion somehow, and it would be burned into his mind forever.
It was in the middle of the final battle. He had just saved his father, when fate pulled one last cruel card from his sleeve. His mother was just doing her job, helping injured people escape, too kind and brave to leave the needy on their own. And she didn't see the building falling until it was too late.
Miles wouldn't make it in time.
Not hurt like he was, not at the distance he was. His ears ringed for a moment and he wondered if this was the price imposed on his father's life. Someone just as important.
That he could have saved his father, but he would have killed his mother.
Miles saw her close her eyes. He saw that although he could reach until his arms ached and his lungs squeezed against his ribcage, there was no time. That he could even bend reality, but not fate
That maybe Miguel was right and he was too naive.
The pieces were about to hit her, his tears already falling from his eyes and burning his face with what could only be described as raw regret when a black and white flash went by.
And his mamma no longer was there.
He changed direction and turned his head, frantically, until he saw her, alive and breathing in a slightly cleaner part of the street. Scared, but there, whole and well. Miles' legs only didn't give way as soon as he set foot on the ground because he had fallen into his mother's arms instead.
Miles remembers how his mother trembled against his embrace and his shoulders went up and down as he cried into his mother's chest - into her heart that was still beating somehow - his thin, gentle fingers stroking the dark curls, repeating 'mi hijo' in a relieved tone. And how he was so, so happy and scared that any response from him turned into unintelligible murmurs.
"Estoy aquí, mamá." It was the only sentence she managed to get out before the dam in his eyes burst for good.
Miles doesn't remember how long he stood there. Only that when he stopped and finally moved a little away, he could see Gwen behind him, unmasked and looking away - to give her privacy, she explained later - before locking eyes with his for good.
She was badly bruised, with cuts all over her uniform and some dried blood on the face. She looked tired too.
Even so, a small reassuring smile appeared on her face.
He could still hear a low Dios mio from his mother before moving closer and burying himself in the girl's arms, mumbling several thank you's over and over again until those words also broke down in tears.
"It's okay, it's going to be okay." Gwen's voice was tearful, her own crying relieved, her hand running up and down his back. "It's going to be okay. I promise, Miles."
"Miles? Miles?" The girl's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. His mother was still concentrating on the preparations in the kitchen, but Gwen was there.
Of course she was, she had a way of knowing where she needed to be.
Gwen took the bag from his hand and left it on a nearby table, her voice full of concern. "Are you all right?"
A crease of worry appeared on her forehead at the sight of tears running down her cheeks and she immediately cupped her hands around his face, wiping away any traces with her thumbs, blue eyes swimming in fear.
"Did something happen?" God, she cares so much. Gwen Stacy really would be the death of him.
Miles pressed his lips together in a thin line before pulling her into an embrace. She felt tense for a minute before relaxing. "I'm just grateful you're here."
"Thank you," she wrapped her arms around him in return, "I'm grateful you're here too."
Dinner had been excellent.
He never felt so happy.
Sometimes Gwen liked to stare.
Miles looked for a pattern, some situation in which she would be more prone or variables that would give a clue as to when or why.
He don't have one.
He could be doing anything, at any time or place, and as soon as he turned away, he would see a pair of blue eyes staring at him before shifting their focus so as not to be caught.
Like now.
The two were in a museum.
Watching exhibitions at Earth-65 never ceased to be a fantastic experience. Miles couldn't have watercolor vision, but Gwen's reality made up for it with its explosion of colors and shapes, changing and transforming every second. It was like being inside a living painting.
All of New York has personality, but that one?
Another level.
That particular one had been on his mind for weeks.
Unfortunately, Miles had gotten lost in the museum of his own dimension, busy with his spider and schoolwork.
That is until Gwen showed up less than a week later announcing that his sadness was over, waving two yellow tickets and informing them that they could see on her Earth the 'newest art demonstration of recent times, courtesy of her and the interdimensional time passage difference'.
He was convinced that she was a gift from the Web of Life and Fate at that point.
Anyway.
The Golden Hour exhibition was as breathtaking as he imagined. The works consisted of a mixture of classic canvases, watercolor, acrylic, among others, along with graffiti and classic New York street art.
All inspired by the height of the city's sunsets in a palette of bright, stunning colors.
It was like taking a child to a sweet store.
Each artist had put so much heart and soul into their creations that Miles couldn't ramble on, absorbing every little detail and technique. His brain was working on ways to capture them to the millimeter.
His favorite work had been a graffiti mural of the inspirational landscape in all its glory in a magnificent field of sunflowers. It was such pure talent and such brilliant colors that he must have been standing there watching it for ten solid minutes and counting.
The trance induced by the artist's impulse to try to absorb so much information to improve her own repertoire had just ended when the fact that Gwen was staring at came to light.
She always had the same face, soft, full of affection and then red when she realized she'd been caught. It was captivating but curious.
Miles laughed quietly. "Why do you always do that?"
"Do what?" She was playing dumb and Miles held back the urge to roll his eyes in amusement.
"Staring," he put his hands in his pockets, an amused smile on his face, "I know I'm handsome and all..."
"You're unbelievable," Gwen wanted to appear nonchalant, but the blush on her cheeks gave her away.
Miles rested his head on her shoulder. A comfortable silence hung for a few moments, both absorbing the painting in front of them. "Really, why do you do that? It's the third time today alone. And I've noticed it other times too."
"It's just that... you have a beautiful smile. And the behavior of my dimension sometimes seeps into my vision and I see it in watercolor too." Gwen brushed her hair back behind her ear, "And seeing you happy in that kind of vision is quite nice. It's kind of hard for me not to... look."
Miles lifted his head, slipping his arm around her shoulders, wrapping her in a side hug. "That was cute."
Gwen shrugged, snuggling further into her puff jacket. "Well, my boyfriend glow like sunshine before my eyes. You can't blame a girl for appreciating that."
Her speech was all affection and love, and Miles could have sworn he'd melt right there. "Gwen?"
"Huh." Sky blue meet dark brown. The background chatter dissipated.
Miles smiled. "You're also the most beautiful painting in the universe to me too."