Returning home, Peter felt a familiar and rare sense of exhaustion. The Spider-Man who appeared today was actually a projection device from the Baxter Building; the goal was to have Peter Parker and Spider-Man appear simultaneously, thereby clearing Peter of the suspicion of being Spider-Man.
Peter slumped onto his bed, picked up his laptop, and began searching for information. They were currently facing a massive problem: S.H.I.E.L.D. was now under Kang's command, and they were largely under S.H.I.E.L.D. surveillance.
If they couldn't evade S.H.I.E.L.D.'s monitoring, they wouldn't even have a viable way to contact Deadpool. Deadpool was still locked up in the Raft prison, and they had no way to bypass S.H.I.E.L.D.'s systems to let him out.
Even Kitty wasn't a great choice. Once captured on S.H.I.E.L.D. surveillance, Kang would undoubtedly know the X-Men were trying to resist him, which would only lead to more trouble.
Except for one person...
Peter was torn.
He knew there was one person who could contact Deadpool and break him out without leaving a trace, smoothly handling a series of complicated tasks.
But Peter had always wanted to keep Gwen out of this. Perhaps the others were more or less already embroiled in superhero affairs, but that was something Peter couldn't prevent.
But with Gwen...
"Maybe we can consider other options, like me using invisibility to take Kitty to find Deadpool, or something else..."
Just then, the doorbell rang. Peter froze. Uncle Ben was working overtime, and Aunt May hadn't returned from the FEAST center yet. After a moment's thought, he realized who was knocking. He went downstairs to open the door and, sure enough, there was Gwen.
"I saw that New Fantastic Four thing you put together on TV. Your speech was good."
Gwen talked as she walked in, sitting down on a dining chair. She asked Peter curiously, "What made you think of starting a New Fantastic Four?"
"Reed Richards' request. He felt we still needed a Fantastic Four; I'm just picking the right people for the job."
Peter gave a helpless smile. He was still thinking about the previous dilemma, but Gwen didn't seem to care much about that. "So, you're going to be very busy for a while, right?"
"...Right. Much busier than before." After saying this, Peter paused suddenly. "We might... still have time for dates, to go places."
"It's fine with me. You'll always have some downtime, won't you?"
Peter blinked, then took a deep breath. He walked over to Gwen, pulled out a chair, and sat down.
"Gwen, do you remember the world before Kang arrived?"
"...I think, I don't remember very clearly. I don't know why, but it's like everything from the past year is very blurry, like a dream."
That was likely because most of what Gwen had encountered was related to him, and once it involved Spider-Man, he had used the Cosmic Cube to hide it.
Gwen sensed Peter's silence and hesitation, so she asked in return, "Did something happen? You look like you're facing something very troublesome."
"No... I just... superhero stuff, Gwen? Do you want to be a superhero?"
"Don't tell me you have something like that at the Baxter Building that can turn people into superheroes. And then you used it on yourself."
"You sound like you don't really want me to be a superhero."
"Of course I don't! Because I know how annoying you are! You're already so helpful now; what will happen once you have superpowers? You'll be even more obsessed!"
Gwen complained dissatisfiedly, "I'm not saying you won't have time for me... I... look at those so-called supervillains."
"I'm afraid that when you can't defeat some terrifying villain, you'll still comfort me saying everything is fine, and then leave me alone to worry if you're going to die in a fight with someone..."
As Gwen spoke, she felt it was strange, as if she and Peter Parker had discussed this topic before. The two of them were communicating with such familiarity, as if it had happened in the past.
"I... I'm even more afraid that I won't be able to help at all, and can only watch you go to your death like that..."
Gwen looked at him earnestly.
"You better not really plan on becoming a superhero. I know you; you'll definitely end up dying somewhere helping others one day... I don't want that to happen."
For a while, Peter had been confused and hesitant about Gwen wanting superpowers and pursuing them. But he only now realized that Gwen didn't look forward to superpowers at all, and certainly didn't want Peter to have them.
The reason she was so enthusiastic about these things was entirely for one reason: she was worried that one day Peter would need help and she wouldn't be able to provide it.
Peter sat there stunned, then shook his head helplessly. He said he would get Gwen a glass of water, but instead, he pulled out his phone and sent a message before walking back to Gwen's side.
He was silent for another few seconds.
"Don't just stand there saying nothing every day, it makes me nervous. You haven't already given yourself some kind of superpower, have you?"
"Can we kiss?"
Peter's words made Gwen freeze. Her face flushed as she stood up, asking in return, "Is this a formal confession?"
"I don't know... I just feel like I was a bit presumptuous before and ignored your feelings."
Gwen brushed her hair back, a bit confused, and then watched Peter approach. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
When it ended, she also heard Peter's voice.
"I'm sorry for dragging you into this, Gwen."
What did that mean?
When Gwen opened her eyes, she saw Peter's hand swipe to open a portal. A flaming skull stepped out; Gwen recognized him as Ghost Rider from the New Fantastic Four.
She looked at him uncomprehendingly, and then she saw Ghost Rider's eyes.
In an instant, a massive amount of memory flooded into Gwen's brain. Peter rushed to support her, then nodded to Ghost Rider, who stepped back through the portal and left. He helped Gwen sit on the sofa. "Are you okay?"
"I... I didn't know so much had happened. I actually forgot the fact that you're Spider-Man."
Gwen rubbed her head, sorting through her memories, and then it clicked. "You need my help, don't you, smart guy? If you weren't out of options, you definitely wouldn't have come to me."
"Yeah, sorry for dragging you into this." Peter gave a somewhat helpless smile. "So, can I count on you? Gwen?"
"Hmm... on one condition."
Gwen smiled.
"Kiss me."