𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐍𝐄
𝐇𝐈𝐃𝐃𝐄𝐍 𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐓𝐘
She was late .
Too damn late.
Gwen Stacy, glanced at the time on the clock, on the wall in her messy room, her walls covered in random posters, rock band posters, metal band posters and punk band posters, along with some movie and show posters. She had a few pride flags and a transgender flag above her door.
5PM.
"Shit."
Band practice started at 4:00PM, she was way too late. Her footsteps echoed in her ears as she paced around her room, shoving things into her black nirvana tote-bag, her phone, her purse, her books, her headphones and her pens, slinging it on her shoulder. She glanced at her drumset, before opening one of the biggest drums, a hidden spot where she hid her spidersuit, along with other stuff, shoving it into her bag.
She was in a rush, her mind in a daze as she got dressed, throwing on a white off the shoulder rock band t shirt, slightly cropped, some black denim shorts with black leggings underneath, hopping into her black all star converse, an old pair she had owned since she was a kid, worn out and muddy, —- but held a lot of memories, putting her choker on her neck.
She fixed her short shoulder length blonde hair, putting in her eyebrow piercing and putting on eyeliner on her waterline, before grabbing her phone, running out her door, before she stopped in her tracks, forgetting my something.
The drumsticks!
She ran back into her room, snatching the drumsticks off her table, shoving them into her pocket, running out her room.
"Gwen..." a deep, hoarse voice stopped her, coming from the kitchen, her dad, a big fellow, way taller and chunkier than her, with a big, crooked nose, a frown on his face, his blonde short hair messy slightly, unkept, a light stubble beard on his face.
She sighed heavily, taking off her headphones and turning to the kitchen in their apartment, walking towards her dad, "yeah? What is it? I'm late." She grumbled, gesturing with her hands for him to hurry up and speak, in a rush for her band practice that she was already late for.
Her dad had a frown on his face, his brown bushy eyebrows narrowed, "where are you going? Dinner's almost ready, kid." He spoke soft, wiping his hands clean with a cloth, the smell of dinner cooking coming from behind him, "it's your favourite, spicy chicken pasta."
"I have band practice, remember? I wont be home in time for dinner. I'm late, gotta go."
She turned away, about to leave the apartment, before his deep voice stopped her again
"Alright. I love you, stay safe."
Her eyes widened, she had stopped in her tracks, standing in the doorway, about to leave. He stood there with a hopeful smile, hoping to hear his aloof and cold daughter say it back.
She opened her mouth, about to say it back, before she stopped herself.
No distractions
"Yeah. Okay."
His smile faded, reaching out to stop her, missing his chance as she slammed the door, her footsteps getting quieter as she ran down the hallway of the apartment building to the stairs, heading to bus stop to get to band practice.
"I will never understand her." He whispered to himself, waking back to kitchen with a frown.
She had changed ever since Peter died, she had completely given up on ballet, something she loved so dearly, focusing on her angry drumming in her room, always by herself and never going out with friends, always storming off, coming home with injuries. their relationship as a father and daughter going downhill.
He hoped that would change, wanting to be there for her, as she didn't have a mother, due to her dying at a young age.
The loud footsteps of Gwen running down the streets echoed, running past people as she got off the bus, her headphones in as she blasted loud rock music.
"[Name]'s gonna kill me." She whispered to herself, before she was stopped in her tracks, the sounds of a woman letting out a scream echoed through her headphones, she snatched off her headphones, snapping her head around to where the noise came from, a man running down the street, stealing money from a nearby bank.
She knew she was late was practice — but she had to help.
She had to save everyone.
She had to.
For Peter.
She ran into a nearby alleyway, quickly slipping into her spidersuit, putting her mask on her face, putting her white hood up, covering her identity, running to the scene, police officers chasing after the masked man running off with the bags of money.
"Freeze! Freeze or we'll shoot!"
The man kept running down the street, shoving innocent people out the way, the bags of money in his hand.
"Ah?!"
A loud gasp escaped his lips as he was dragged up by a web, being tied up on a lamp post, a couple of cheers coming in as the public saw who stopped the man, the bags of money being snatched off him by a figure swinging past.
"Fuck! ....Not you!" He yelled, seeing who the person was. A masked spiderwoman, wearing a white suit with blue and pink colours on it, her mask on; Gwen underneath that mask
She smirked, standing above the lamp post as she shot her webs out, tying him upside down, the police staring up at her. She threw the bags of money down to the police for them to catch.
"Next time —- don't steal from a bank, yeah?" She said with a snarky smirk, patting the criminal's cheek with her hand, before swinging down the lamp post.
"Get her! That's spiderwoman!" A loud shout emitted from the crowd of police officers, them all getting out their cars to chase after her, to get her and arrest her for the murder of Peter Parker.
She didn't waste anytime, shooting webs at them and pinning them to their police cars, throwing the rest of the money bags on the floor in front of them. She recognised one of the police officer's being her dad. Of course he was there, he was the captain of the police department, the leader of the search for her alter ego; spiderwoman. She tried her best not to make eye contact, her stomach sinking to her feet. She put on her fake deep voice, crossing her arms.
"Sorry, officers, I'm late for something. See ya."
"Hey! Get back here!"
Before they could react, the young woman was gone, swinging away with her webs.
"Damn it!"
.
.
.
.
The doors of the practice room for the band "Cherry Burns" slammed open, mid practice, the whole band sat on the stage, tuning their instruments and playing around with some riffs and songs, waiting on their drummer, Gwen Stacy.
Their eyes turned to the door, hearing the footsteps of Gwen storming in, panting slightly due to how out of breath she was, having ran here, she ran onto the stage, putting her tote-bag down and shoving past the other members, getting her drumset ready.
"Jeez —- the least you could do is apologise for being an almost hour late." Glory Grant, the band's bass guitarist glared at her, her bass guitar slung on her body, hanging low on her, bored of constantly waiting for Gwen every practice. Glory was a dark skinned young woman —- with big Afro black hair, the curls defined, brown eyes, her lips two toned, multiple ear piercings on her ear, eyeliner on her eyes.
She wore a black dress, spaghetti strap and short, with a white off the shoulder shirt underneath, short ankle cut white socks on her feet with her doc marten boots, a choker on her neck.
"Yeah, yeah. Bus got caught up in traffic." Gwen snarled, rolling her eyes as she pulled out her drumsticks.
Betty Brant, the band's piano player sighed heavily, pressing the keys on her keyboard. "Why are you always late anyways? Too bored to show up, or what?" She complained.
She was a young woman, with tanned skin, with blue dyed short hair, a mullet style with a beanie on her head, wearing a black tank top, cropped slightly, with a long black skirt, vans sneakers on her feet with studded bracelets, a gold necklace hanging off her neck, her green eyes adverted from her keyboard to Gwen, her freckles on her tanned cheeks and small nose, her black nostril ring in her nose, winged eyeliner on her eyes with black lipstick.
"It's none of your business."
Glory scoffed, turning to [Name], the lead guitarist and singer of the band, who had her electric guitar slung on her body, fixing her microphone.
"It's fine, okay, guys? Gwen's here now —- let's focus on that. Let's get on with our practice. We have some major gigs coming up." [Name] spoke up, turning to the band to face them, before facing Gwen, a soft smile on her face, "you're here now, that's all that matters."
Gwen simply stared at her with her same bored, annoyed expression, before she began to practice on her drums, slamming her drumsticks on her drums, without even asking what song they were practicing.
"Gwen."
Glory tried to call out to Gwen, trying to stop her from playing, not wanting her to do her own thing, wanting them to play together, work together, as a band.
[Name] puts a hand out, shaking her head and motioning for them to play along with her, Betty sighed heavily, beginning to play her bass, Betty joining in with her piano keys, before [Name] joined in with her electric guitar riffs, singing into the microphone.
All was going well, until Gwen's playing was getting loud. Too loud, no one could hear their own instruments, gwen's loud, angry drumming filling their ears, along with the sound of her angry grunting as she shut her eyes, slamming her sticks down onto the drums, silencing everyone
"Gwen!"
She ignored their calls, slamming down onto the drums, grunting angrily, her eyes closed as she thought about Peter.
She missed him.
A lot.
She missed his smile, his stupid nerdy interests, his big wonky round glasses, his laugh, his voice, how he was like a member of his family, always sleeping over and coming over, having dinner with them —- now he was gone. because she couldn't save him-
"GWEN!"
she stopped playing, the loud yelling of Betty and glory's voice calling out her name snapping her out of it. She opened her eyes, dropping her drumsticks to the floor, the band all staring at her, like a loud record had scratched.
Betty and Glory both looked annoyed, frustrated with her aloof and angry behaviour, changing from her easy going and nice self, to this. [Name] looked annoyed, but her face concerned, a frown on her face as she turned to look at the blonde teen.
This wasn't the first time she had gotten so caught up in her feelings during playing that her drums were so loud, interrupting practice.
"Gwen! This is the 3rd time. We've told you, stop playing so loudly." Betty moaned in annoyance, slamming her hand down on her keyboard, the loud sound of the jumbled up keys echoed through the room.
"Yeah. It's annoying. All your pent up anger, your playing doesn't even match our playing! It's not even the right song." Glory chimed in, rolling her eyes.
"Gwen....are you okay?" [Name] asked, taking a step closer to her drum set, being more concerned than angry, unlike the other members.
Gwen stared into [Name]'s eyes, her heart warming up slightly from her soft tone and her concern, before she narrowed her eyebrows, picking up her drumsticks.
"I'm fine!" She snarled, standing up, in an aggressive manner, causing her stool to fall over, the loud thud echoing through the room.
"Gwen-" Before Betty could speak, Gwen had shoved past her, jumping down the stage, picking up her bag on the way.
"Just leave me the hell alone, okay?! I'm fine! What don't you understand?!"
The loud slam of the doors caused them to flinch slightly, Gwen slamming the door shut as she walked outside the practice room, storming to a nearby bench, sitting down and crossing her arms, staring at the river in front of the bench. She put in her headphones, blasting music, the band "bikini kill" blasting out from her headphones.
Her fists clenched and unclenched, her legs bouncing up and down.
"Stupid...stupid...stupid."
She didn't have time to talk about her feelings, to tell the band about what was going on, or to make friends, or to focus on dating.
She wasn't a normal teenager, having to worry about her job as spiderwoman, getting good grades in visions academy and protecting everyone, all while her dad and the police were on the hunt for her as spiderwoman.
Yet, she still felt that constant guilt in the back of her head.
She missed Peter, she regretted not being able to save him, not being to be strong enough to get the debris off him, that was slowly killing him.
She felt her breathing getting heavier as her chest heaved up and down, remembering that homecoming night, the screams, the crying, the blood and image of Peter's dead body, the blood and tears all over him when she managed to get the huge piece of debris off him.
It was meant to be a happy night, a night where her and her best friend, her platonic soulmate would dance together, her not having to worry about her job as spiderwoman or any bullies teasing him.
But it all went downhill, resulting in his death.
If only she was strong enough
If only she was fast enough
If only she saved him
She was snapped out of her thoughts, a finger tapping her shoulder, she took off her headphones, turning her head round to the person, seeing [Name] standing there, her guitar slung behind her back, the strap around her body.
"Gwen." [Name] whispered, seeing gwen's tear filled blue eyes and her heavy breathing, her hands shaking as she gripped onto her drumsticks.
"Are you alright?" She asked, waking over to sit down next to her, but Gwen scooted away, leaving a huge space between them.
"I said I'm fine."
"Are you really though?"
"I'm FINE!"
Gwen snapped at her, clenching her fists and gritting her teeth, her eyes wide as she yelled at her. [Name] smiled, ignoring her yelling as she placed her guitar down next to her, keeping her tone gentle and soft.
"I'm sorry about what happened with Peter."
Gwen's breath hitched, her heart pumping at the mention of her dead best friend, her harsh glare softened, her tone going quiet from her angry yelling.
"Why're you apologising? It's not your fault or anything" Gwen grumbled, not being used to being so kind and soft spoken to someone.
[Name] gave her soft smile, reaching for her hand and giving it a squeeze, a smile on her face. Gwen kept still, considering pulling away.
Gwen pulled away after a few moments, the warmth of her hand causing a small, real smile to appear on her face, the first time she smiled in months, before her smile quickly melted away.
She stood up, picking up her tote-bag, tucking her blonde hair behind her ears.
"Gotta go, I'll see you at school."
Before [name] could reply, she was already off, her headphones on as she blasted her loud rock music, holding onto the strap of her tote-bag.
"...uh...bye?" she stood up, waving bye to the back of Gwen as she walked off, her music blasted out of her headphones, she stood there, watching her walk off, making sure she left safe, before turning and walking to get her bus home.
.
.
.
.
Gwen sat on the bus, her headphones in as she blasted her music, drowning out the world and chatter around her as the bus drove through the streets, the sun slowly setting, her eyes were focused on outside the window as the thought about the recent events.
[name].
She was a sweet girl, caring and always soft spoken, a grey guitar player and singer. She loved rock music, and went to the same school as Gwen.
Gwen saved her that night at homecoming, from a falling piece of debris that was about to fall on her, the night the a giant green lizard villain attacked, running the happy night at homecoming. But she didn't save her as Gwen Stacy —- she saved her as spiderwoman, her mask on.
She wanted to keep a distance, after Peter died but today....
She held her hand, squeezing it and going out of her way to comfort Gwen.
A friend?
No.
No.
Gwen shook her head frantically, standing up and getting off the bus as she reached her stop.
She couldn't make friends — she couldn't allow herself. She didn't want to go through the pain of losing another person, another person she loved and cared about. Not only that, she believed she didn't deserve friends. She was okay on her own.
All she needed was her drums, her job as spiderwoman and her music.
No distractions.
The door rattled as she entered the apartment, hearing the light sound of the tv coming from the living room, it was pretty late.
She shut the door carefully, making sure not to alert her dad, locking it. She peeked into the living room, seeing her dad snoring lightly on the couch, the tv on, an empty plate of dinner in front of him on the coffee table. She carefully sneaked past the living room, walking into the kitchen and placing her keys down, seeing a full plate of dinner placed down for her, a note left from her dad there.
"Hope you had a good band practice. Love you."
She had a small smile on her face, before her smile faded at the sound of footsteps behind her, she snapped her body around, ready to shoot a web but quickly stopped, seeing her dad's tall chunky figure in front of her.
"Dad! You scared me."
He had a frown on his face, fidgeting with his fingers. "Are you alright? It's quite late. I saved you some dinner...." He looked down at her outfit, seeing her wearing an outfit that wasn't keeping her very warm "you...you didn't wear a coat?" He spoke up awkwardly, shifting his weight from one foot to another, feeling quite awkward about their relationship as an father and daughter.
"Not hungry. And, no, I didn't wear a coat."
He didn't have a chance to speak as she walked past him, heading to her room.
"Gwen-"
"Goodnight."
She slammed her door shut, sitting down and sighing heavily, collapsing down on her bed, laying on her back. She groaned loudly at the sound of the knock on her bedroom door.
"Gwen.... Are you alright?"
Her dad.
"I'm fine."
She was sick and tired of everyone asking her that. She said she was fine, at least.... She was trying to convince herself that she was.
"Gwen.... I know I haven't been here for you as a father... being busy as a police officer.. but it's for you. I want to make sure I catch spiderwoman, to avenge Peter."
Her eyebrows narrowed, her fists clenched, she pulled out her spidersuit and shoved it into her secret hiding spot in her drumset, she didn't reply to his words, anger filling her, along with hurt.
"Gwen..." her dad spoke up again, leaning his head on her bedroom door, it being locked. He could hear his daughter moving around inside her bedroom. "I...I love you, I hope you know that."
She paused, slipping out of her shoes, staring at the closed door, hearing her dad's hushed voice.
"I...I love you-"
She couldn't finish her sentence, hearing her dad's police walkie talkie go off, calling him in to catch a criminal on the loose, needing the captain's aid.
Of course.
Everytime she was getting somewhere with her dad — his job as a captain of a police department got in the way. She felt as if she was the second choice in everything.
"I...I have to go Gwen, I'll speak to you tomorrow morning, okay? Have a good night's sleep."
"Whatever." She whispered to herself.
Her dad rushed to his room, grabbing his stuff and rushing out the apartment to his police car.
She rushed to her drumset, opening it up and pulling out her spidersuit, slipping into it, putting her mask on and her hood, slipping into her converse shoes.
She sighed heavily, swinging out the window and heading out to help defeat the villain, her mask on.
She felt bad for hiding her identity from her dad, but she knew she had to.
Her dad hated spiderwoman, and she was spiderwoman. If she told him, he would arrest her.
He wouldn't bother to hear her out.
He hated spiderwoman with all his guts. He didn't understand the full story —- she didn't mean to kill Peter. It was an accident.
She tried to be as fast as possible. To save him from the falling debris. She was too late. At least she managed to save [name], and a few other students.
She couldn't tell him. An endless cycle, school, band practice, hiding her identity from her dad and trying to fix her relationship with him
An endless cycle.
Would it ever end?