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Chapter Text

It was another gloomy and rainy night in New York. Things were getting harder and harder for each and every resident of the once beautiful and safe city. Not even tourists showed up anymore to observe the beautiful landscape that the city had.

In a small apartment on the third floor of a building, there was a rather troubled family. Martha Poole was the woman's name, and with her, he had a son: Teddy Poole, a boy with fifteen years old.

George Stacy was the man's name, and with him, he had a daughter: Gwendolyne "Gwen" Stacy, a girl with eighteen years old.

In the beginning, things were rather perfect for that quartet of people who were heartbroken by traumas and disappointments, but since NYPD's Captain Jefferson Davis died, everything has gotten darker.

Gwen could never say when exactly her family stopped being together. When everything started to fall apart. She loved Teddy, she loved Martha and she loved George, but it seems that over time everyone grew more and more distant, especially the parents about their children.

"You are truly unbelievable." That was her father's voice, coming from the living room, where he was probably having another argument with her stepmother.

"Oh, please! If you cared even a little bit about our children, you would understand." Martha said, and Gwen could perfectly imagine she rolling her beautiful eyes.

"So now that's it? You think I don't care? Martha, every day you cross more and more of the line."

"Am I crossing the line, George? You haven't been back to this house in a week and a half! Can you imagine how the children feel about your absence?"

Oh. It was about that. Recently, her father was promoted to the position of captain in the NYPD, and to forget the grief of having lost a very close friend, George is full of work, and has been in this cycle for a week and a half.

"I'm just working to support all of us in this damn house!"

"No, you're not! You're moving away from us and you can't see it. Teddy's sunk into video games, he barely talks to his family. What about Gwen? Oh, Gwen is the one who suffers the most from this, that's for sure. You are her father George. Her hero. And you're not here for her!"

"I'm sure she understands me more than you do, Martha."

Gwen looked out the window, watching the raindrops slowly slide down. Her features remained neutral, as if the feelings inside her were dead. Poisoned. Maybe they were.

No, she didn't understand better than Martha because she simply didn't understand. She hated all of it and all of that bullshit. It was stressful and frustrating. She just wanted to get the hell out of New York and never come back.

From that point on, she could hear the muffled voices. She couldn't tell if they were whispering or if her brain just refused to listen to this ridiculous and pointless discussion, but she took a deep breath and picked up her cell phone when a notification went off.

It was a notification of a new post from Miles on his Instagram art account. She smiled. It was some new graffiti he had done.

Gwen has always greatly admired Miles' works, even though she wasn't exactly close to him. She had obviously known him since they were kids, as their parents were police officers, friends and co-workers. He never seemed to care much for the blonde girl, always lost in his thoughts of studying. She had a vague memory of when her biological mother, Helen, had died and Miles had come to comfort her. The two were around seven and eight years old. Gwen couldn't tell exactly if the hug he gave her, the kiss on the forehead and a simple whisper of "everything will be fine" was just politeness or if he really cared about her and her well-being.

The years have been cruel to both of them. Miles lost his father, Jeff, moved away from his mother, got closer and closer to his uncle Aaron Davis and as much as Gwendolyne never had a true friendship with him, she missed him. Would it now be too weird to ask him out? But what would she say? How would she approach him?

She knew that Miles Morales was a little out of her league. Not because she was a blonde nerd with the thick glasses and he was a popular bad boy that every girl wants to sink her claws into, but because she is the extrovert blonde girl with colored hair and he is the introvert with the braids who don't even have a true friend, other than his roommate Ganke and lab partner Kate.

Katherine Bishop was the girl's name. She was nice, really. Gwen talked to her in the halls sometimes. Future test answers, gossip about boys, pajama parties... Anyway, all of this has already been a subject for both of them.

Perhaps saying that Gwen Stacy had a "crush" on Miles Morales would be an understatement and quite rash, but she wouldn't be the one to say that and she wouldn't deny it. She just shook her head and walked away from the window, where she went with quick and determined steps to her drums where beside her there was a box with her mother's things, which her father liked to avoid.

Well, it wasn't exactly a box of her mother's stuff, but Gwen wouldn't say that to him either.

She opened the box and took out her Gwenpool's costume, which basically consisted of a mask and a bodysuit with a few adjustments. She took her weapons that were hidden there too and put them in their designated pockets, jumping through the bedroom window.

She didn't know exactly where she was going to go or what she was going to do, but she knew that she needed to get away from the thoughts and facts that could bring on an anxiety attack. New York wasn't the best place to forget your troubles, but punching some fucking bad guys in the face might be.

Gwen Stacy wasn't a hero, but she had been once. Gwenpool wasn't a hero, but she once felt like acting for good. Ghost-Spider was a hero, but the pressure of having to carry the world on her shoulders when no one in this town helps you or helps themselves slowly killed her.

In Gwenpool's shadow lived what was once the hope of many in the town.

Chapter Text

The rain didn't stop falling for even a minute, and Miles didn't really care about that. He had left the house about thirty minutes after his mother had gone on duty at the hospital, but it was hard to say how long ago that had been. 

He had just finished graffiti on an alley wall and decided to take a picture and post it on his Instagram art account, with some emoji as a caption. A few likes appeared within minutes. 

@stacy.gwen liked your post. 

Miles clicked on the notification, and the girl's profile opened. It was just his childhood friend, Gwen. Seeing some of her publications, he narrowed his eyes. 

It had been a long time since the last interaction he'd had with her. It was probably high school, or maybe his dad's funeral. He didn't know much about how her life was currently, he only knew that her father had remarried and that now Gwen had a stepmother and a step younger brother. 

He always found her attractive, he never denied it and wouldn't deny it. He remembered when they were kids and she had her blonde hair so long that he and her mother, Helen, nicknamed her as "Rapunzel" but after Helen's death, Gwen cut her hair. 

And God, how beautiful she'd looked... 

He never approached her, she seemed to handle things recklessly in his eyes. Her friend MJ was never a girl who tried to talk sense into her head, so it was fair to say that the two were a chaotic duo. 

Miles only had two friends at school: Ganke, his roommate, and his lab partner, Kate Bishop, who was a very kind and smart person. Sometimes the three of them would get together to eat out on a weekend or go to a party for one of Kate's friends, and Miles really didn't mind as long as he wasn't alone around those drunk people. 

He bit his bottom lip, throwing his head back. Drops of rain fell directly onto his face as he kept his eyes closed. He grabbed his backpack and his cans of spray paint, putting everything away. He decided that he would go home, maybe getting some rest would be good, even if his mind was overloaded. 

On the way back home, he saw a silhouette jumping from one roof to another and by the color of the costume, he recognized it as Gwenpool. He narrowed his eyes, seeing how far she would go, but it didn't take long for her to disappear in the middle of the buildings and smoke that the city had.

He rolled his eyes. When he found out from the disaster that it was Gwenpool, he wasn't surprised. Not at all. And it didn't take long for her to end up teasing him when he was doing his "duty" as The Prowler after the mysterious disappearance of the heroine Ghost-Spider. 

She was a wonderful person, Miles admired that a lot about her. What could cause Ghost-Spider to stop being New York's savior in this way? He never understood, and he wanted too much to know who she was beneath that white mask to ask.

When he reached the door of his apartment, the cell phone Miles used for his secret identity vibrated. He took the device out of his pocket and read the display, seeing that it was a message from a number that wasn't saved in his list - and wouldn't be, considering he'd only saved his Uncle Aaron's number and a few contacts. for business. 

"hi kitty ;)" 

- For fuck's sake, who are you? 

"cmon prowler, you don't recognize your little friend anymore?" 

"gwenpool in the area baby :)" 

Miles sighed loudly.

- How the hell did you get my number? 

"a magician never reveals his secrets" 

"but hey, whatchu doing?"

- Texting with the most insufferable person in Brooklyn. 

"aww I love ya too :D" 

"wanna go out?" 

He thought for a while before answering. 

- Why, of all people, would I want to go out with you, Gwenpool? 

" 'cause you love me baby!" 

"and 'cause I have a game for you" 

- A game? 

"yes!! how about you meet me so i can tell you the rules? ;)"

- Yeah, whatever. Where?

"i'm gonna send ya the location, baby. don't be late! ;)"

He hung up the phone, gritting his teeth. Now that there was no turning back, he would have to put on his suit and go meet this fucking annoying girl.

What did he do to deserve this?