New York City in the morning is a perfect blend of order and chaos.
The air smells like autumn with a dash of car fumes, thickened by the shouts
of cab drivers and commuters. 8 million bodies move through the system,
injecting subway cars and office buildings with life. The whole mass is
immense, always at the brink of growing out of control.
Peter Parker is eating a bagel when he sees her.
A head of blonde hair that seems to poke out of
the crowded street. There’s a gentle pitter-patter
of footsteps surrounding him when he freezes, and
suddenly the city seems much smaller, contained in
the block they both stood in. She meets his gaze,
and it becomes all too apparent to him that she
sees him too.
Everything seems to go silent, the cars passing by,
the headphones he gingerly slides off his ears,
the sound of an interminable clock somewhere in the distance.
It’s an awkward effort to get his mouth to open to produce words,
but his vocal cords finally pull through and makes something that
at least sounds amicable.
❝ … H
–Hey, Gwen.
–- It’s been a while. ❞