"Oh, that room is a little messy. I just haven't had time to clean it yet..."
"You know how it is. I'm a police officer. I'm busy dealing with all kinds of cases every day, and I'm really exhausted, so when it comes to daily life..."
Gwen looked at Peter awkwardly, while Peter's eyes lit up the moment he stepped inside.
A standard two-bedroom apartment. Two bedrooms, one kitchen, one bathroom. Then a larger living room and a balcony outside.
Roughly around a hundred square meters.
But the couch in the living room was a total disaster.
Spider-Man merchandise and comic books, an opened bag of chips clipped shut again, and a flesh-colored lace bra...
"This is how you live when you're out here by yourself?!"
Peter turned to look at Gwen with an expression like he had seen a ghost. Even though this Gwen wasn't the one from his own world, the contrast was still hitting him pretty hard.
"Oh, God, let me explain. I've really been busy lately, so... so I just haven't had time to clean up..."
Gwen's cheeks flushed bright red, and even her neck was turning pink. She tried to explain, but her voice kept getting quieter and quieter.
When her mom Helen came over, she always complained about Gwen tossing things around too, but that was her mom, so it didn't really matter.
Now that a guy had seen her like this, she wanted to find a crack in the ground and disappear.
And that guy was Peter, even if he was only a teenage version of Peter from another universe...
"Want me to help you clean up a little?"
Peter asked carefully, but the question seemed to hit some hidden nerve in this grown-up little wildcat.
"I'll do it myself! Peter, stay right there and don't move. I'll have it cleaned up in a second!"
Then Gwen ran around in a panic, first gathering up all her personal underwear, then organizing the comics.
An entire bookshelf.
Every last one of them was Spider-Man fan comics.
So this woman was a Spider-Man fan too...
In the end, Gwen opened the bag of chips, took one out, put it in her mouth, then frowned.
"They're stale."
"How many days has that bag been open?"
"Three? Four? I forgot. You know I've never had a strong sense of time."
With a regretful look, Gwen tossed the chips into the trash and kept cleaning.
Watching her move around, Peter couldn't help noticing the slim waist and long legs under it. Her figure was incredible.
He couldn't help sighing inwardly.
A second growth spurt really was important.
Compared to this Gwen, the Gwen in his own world was a lot less developed. Hopefully she'd get there too when the time came...
"Alright, sit down. Peter, I'm kind of curious about your story with the other me~"
Gwen took two chilled glasses from the fridge, poured orange juice into both, sat on the couch, and looked at him with open curiosity.
Ever since she had seen the playful lock-screen photo on his phone, she had been curious.
And for some reason, a little envious too.
"Well, the Gwen in my world... okay, I met her in elementary school. She transferred into our class, so we've known each other for eight years..."
"Hey, that's completely different from me! I met the other you in high school. Although I really was supposed to transfer schools back in elementary school. My dad's job changed, and he wanted us to move closer to him, but I ended up not transferring. I couldn't bear leaving my friends behind."
Listening to a story so different from her own, Gwen found it fascinating, but also a little frustrating.
It was like one timeline had split into two branches, one going up and one going down. Every decision changed the direction of that universe.
The people who were meant to meet would still meet, but the final outcome could still change.
"If I had to guess, high school you probably didn't like high school Peter Parker very much, because he was a total tech nerd. That much I do know."
Peter took a sip of orange juice and teased her with a smile.
A little embarrassed by the teasing, Gwen tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and said with a smile, "Honestly, at first we barely interacted. Back then, Peter wore those ugly thick black-framed glasses, got bullied by Flash all the time, and didn't seem very confident. Besides Harry and Mary Jane, he didn't really seem willing to talk to anyone else..."
Gwen thought for a moment, then smiled again.
"And at the time I was busy with schoolwork too. The mountain of biology stuff from Dr. Connors was hard for me to understand, especially since I was still in high school. But back then I always liked competing with Mary Jane, so I started getting close to Peter partly to annoy her. Then later, when we both interned under Dr. Connors, I gradually realized he was actually a pretty good person..."
"I see..."
"What about you?! Did you study biological sciences too? Did you join Connors's biology project with the other me?"
Now it was Gwen's turn to be curious. She studied Peter carefully, trying to read his reaction.
"No. I'm not interested in biological sciences. I prefer researching cross-disciplinary, era-changing technologies. But Gwen made the same choice. She went into biological sciences too. And I'm not the only Spider-Man in my world."
"What? There's another Spider-Man too?!"
That only made Gwen even more curious.
If the multiverse really worked through similarities, then did that mean her universe might also have more than one Spider-Man?
"Yes. The first Spider-Man is named Gwen Stacy. She's New York's famous Spider-Woman, known as Ghost-Spider."
"And I'm the second Spider-Man. I taught myself enough advanced tech to create my own suit and gear, then became the Wraith Spider that criminals are terrified of."
"Although I know who she is, she's never told me directly. Of course, I haven't told her my real identity either. That silly little idiot probably still hasn't realized I'm the Spider partner who fights beside her."
Peter's eyes softened as he said it, and the corners of his mouth lifted before he even realized it.
"Hey, that sounded like you were insulting me! But I never expected the other me to become a crime-fighting Spider-Woman. That's so cool!"
Gwen said it with obvious excitement.
"It is cool. She gets chased all over the place by Uncle George. At this point she's practically become one of his headaches. If Uncle George ever found out the Spider-Woman in that world was you, retirement probably wouldn't be far off."
"Heroes are never fully understood by the people close to them. When I first found out Peter's identity, I didn't understand him either."
As if remembering something, Gwen's whole face brightened, and her blue eyes curved into smiling crescents.
"You really like the me from your universe, don't you?"
"Yes. A lot. My Gwen once told me she'd liked me for eight years, but what she doesn't know is that I've liked her for even longer."
Peter nodded and admitted it openly.
After talking for a long time, they both came to understand each other a little better.
"It sounds like the Gwen in your universe is a really wonderful girl. And she even became Spider-Woman. She's a lot better than me..."
Gwen said it quietly.
"She is. But you're pretty great too."
Peter looked her up and down.
At twenty-six, she had fully grown into herself. There was a mature charm to her, mixed with just a little heat.
"Well, now I'm hungry from all this talking. Want dinner?"
Gwen sounded cheerful as she turned and stepped into the kitchen, then stuck her head out to ask.
"To be honest, I still have serious doubts about your cooking. Even if the version of you in this universe has improved, I doubt it's improved that much."
"Tell me honestly, Gwen, do you actually eat your own food often?"
Peter walked into the kitchen and looked at the spotless dishes. There wasn't even a trace of grease on them. For a moment he couldn't tell whether that meant they were never used or Gwen was just extremely neat about the kitchen.
Probably not the second one.
A woman who left her underwear lying around clearly wasn't going to care more about an area she wasn't interested in.
"Who are you looking down on?! I've changed a lot, okay?!"
"Fine then. Let's test whatever bizarre cuisine you've come up with. And afterward, remember to take me to the hospital."
Peter turned back to the living room and dropped onto the couch, sinking into it with obvious satisfaction.
He had already stuffed himself earlier, but he could still eat. Enjoying good food was one of life's real pleasures.
Weird food, though... that was another matter entirely.
The feeling was strangely pleasant. Peter almost drifted off into his own thoughts.
He found himself imagining what it would feel like if, after returning to Earth-65, he and Gwen got together and built a home.
Would it feel something like this?
But even he knew that probably wasn't possible.
After all, the Gwen in this world was just an ordinary police officer, while the Gwen in his world was Spider-Woman.
Similar, yet not the same.
In the end, there was still a difference.
(End of Chapter)
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