181. Quiet & Loud Thoughts. (Patreon)

Gwen POV:

The room was full of light. Holograms layered over holograms, data streams folding into each other like living things. Tactical projections bloomed and collapsed in midair as Peter guided the Castraferrum drones with calm, surgical precision. Attack helicopters flared into fire one by one on the feed, their destruction reduced to clean vectors and fading heat signatures.

I watched him from a few steps back.

Somewhere in the world, an average twenty-two-year-old husband was probably slumped in a gaming chair, headset on, arguing with strangers over voice chat after a desk job that barely paid rent.

And here was mine.

A trillionaire. A war commander. A man casually dismantling a terrorist assault on a Malibu mansion while standing barefoot in a lab, coffee still warm on the counter.

My eyes drifted lower, to his back.

The Mk. II Sandevistan pulsed beneath his skin, a toxic, luminous green threading along his spine like a second nervous system. Each glow synced with his breathing, with his heartbeat. Controlled, measured, unshaken.

I swallowed.

My gaze shifted to the display cases lining the wall.

My suits.

The Spider-Woman costume. The Iron Spider armors. All pristine, all upgraded beyond anything I could’ve imagined when I first put on the mask.

I stepped closer to the furthest case and stopped in front of it.

My first suit.

It looked… small.

Nothing special. Commercial spandex. Hand-stitched seams. Lenses salvaged from a pair of white-lensed sunglasses. It had been held together with hope, stubbornness and just enough recklessness to keep me alive.

I lifted my left hand and rubbed my palm where the scar wasn’t.

Where the spider had bitten me.

Where everything had changed.

The only Spider-Woman of Earth-65M.

And still, sometimes… it didn’t feel like enough.

My eyes drifted back to Peter. To the man who built an empire, saved worlds, bent physics and biology into tools, who had never once been chosen by fate and yet had taken responsibility anyway.

A thought crept in, uninvited and poisonous.

Would Peter have been more deserving of the powers than me?

“Don’t even think about it.”

Peter’s voice cut through the room without him turning around, fingers dancing through holographic commands as Clanker fed him updates through his Cerebral Interface Chip.

I blinked. “What?”

He huffed softly. “I know when you’re thinking something bad about yourself. It’s not telepathy. It’s my husband’s intuition.”

My breath hitched.

I walked up behind him, slipped my arms around his waist and rested my chin on his left shoulder. His body was warm with heat, with love.

“Have you ever thought,” I asked quietly, “about what you’d be like… if you were Spider-Man?”

Peter exhaled through his nose, a sound halfway between a laugh and a sigh.

“No,” He said. “I wouldn’t be a good Spider-Man.”

That surprised me.

“There are fundamental differences,” He continued evenly. “Between other Peters and me. For one, I’m not bound by that thou-shall-not-harm mindset. I can hurt people if I decide it’s necessary.”

I tightened my hold just a little.

“And I never let canon events define me. Uncle Ben’s alive. Aunt May’s alive. Captain Stacy’s alive.” He paused. “I didn’t let the universe take them to shape me.”

His voice lowered.

“And I’m selfish.”

I frowned. “Peter....”

“If there were two train tracks,” He said calmly, “and Uncle Ben was tied to one, and strangers were tied to the other… I’d choose Uncle Ben. Every time.”

The words landed heavy.

“I can live with their disappointment.” He finished. “I can’t live in a world where the people I love are gone before their time.”

The last helicopter on the feed erupted into flame.

For a split second, the holo-display flashed yellow. Mission status : Complete.

And in that instant, I kissed him.

Hard. Certain. No hesitation.

He froze for half a heartbeat, then kissed me back just as fiercely.

When I pulled away, my forehead rested against his temple.

“You’re a great liar,” I murmured. “But when you lie to me, your heartbeat spikes just a little.”

He didn’t argue.

“You wouldn’t forsake people unless you had no choice,” I continued. “You’ve grown too much for that.”

I stepped back, searching his face. “Then why aren’t you gutting A.I.M like a fish? You have the proof.”

Peter sighed, finally turning to face me.

“Vice President Rodriguez,” He said. “No hard evidence tying him to the crimes. Just consultations about his daughter. And I want all of A.I.M’s enhanced assets in one place.”

I nodded slowly. “Lure and bait.”

“Exactly.”

I didn’t argue.

Instead, I reached for the Iron Spider Mk. II as it unfolded around me, plates locking into place with familiar precision.

“I’ll go to patrol.” I said.

I leaned in and kissed his cheek before turning toward the exit.

“Be careful." Peter cautioned lovingly.

I smiled behind the mask. “Always.”

Peter POV:

Tony’s voice crackled over the comms.

“Uh. By the way? Your hologram feed was still live.”

I sighed. “I don’t care.”

Pepper shot me a look. “You should.”

“Too late now,” I said, already shifting projections. “Tony, plot a flight path to Tennessee. Pepper, Prowler jet. Now.”

Maya Hansen raised her hand hesitantly. “And… what should I do?”

I looked at her hologram flatly. “You could take a swan dive into the ocean for all I care.”

Pepper groaned. “Peter.”

“She's coming with me.” She added firmly.

Tony and I spoke at the same time.

“No. Absolutely not.”

She ignored us both and turned toward the jet.

As she boarded with Maya, my hologram flickered beside Tony.

“She’s perfect for you.” I said simply.

Tony smiled, soft and genuine.

“Yeah,” He replied. “I know.”