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"Hiya!"
The word startled MJ out of the trance that had her staring out of the coffee shop's window. Her surprise quickly changed into glee as Gwen sat herself down across from her.
"Surprised?"
"Very." Gwen smiled
MJ let out a small laugh. "Thanks for coming."
Gwen's smile disappeared almost instantly. "Is everything ok?"
"You might say so." MJ let out a dry chuckle. "I'm not really sure how to begin. Well... you know how our minds play tricks on us?"
"Tell me about it!"
"Well, mine did a number on me. Some part of me heard what you had to say after the show that night, that you were different, but I didn't want to listen. I was afraid to trust you."
MJ paused for a moment when Gwen let her head drop in an attempt to conceal any emotions that might have appeared on her face. After a moment, MJ continued, hoping her next words would put a smile on Gwen's face.
"But, I've been thinking about it-"
"Listen," Gwen cut her off. "There's more for me to say."
Gwen drew in a deep breath before stealing a glance at MJ's face. The heartbroken look on the redhead's face wasn't something Gwen wanted to look at while saying her next words. Instead, she opted to stare at the chair behind MJ.
"I, well, I maybe rushed into things. I thought-"
"Wait a minute. What are you saying?"
"I, um, I'm saying that I thought I could be there for you, Mary Jane, but I can't."
MJ knew that Gwen would only use her full name if she was speaking the truth, and she had just dropped it in the middle of a sentence. A sentence that would break her heart every time she would think of it in the near future.
"My mind was playing tricks too."
MJ knew she would only get the answer she wanted by asking a direct question. "Do you love me or not?"
Unfortunately, Gwen loved MJ a lot more than she cared to admit. She loved her so much that she didn't want her to get hurt simply because she knew her.
"I...don't."
Gwen felt defeated. Not only had she lied to herself, but to MJ as well. She couldn't bear to see MJ's face, not with how she had stomped on her heart just now.
"You don't..."
Gwen felt MJ's eyes on her, but she couldn't bring herself to meet them. MJ's gaze lingered for a while. Eventually, Gwen the heard two words she thought MJ would never say in a situation like this.
"Kiss me."
Gwen stared at MJ in confusion. "Kiss you?"
"I need to know something," she insisted. "Just one kiss."
The sparkle of the wedding band MJ wore caught Gwen's eye as she placed her hand on hers. Despite the reminder that MJ would soon be with someone else, Gwen felt herself lean towards MJ.
Gwen's eyes shot open as her spider-sense went off. Acting purely off instinct, Gwen threw herself across the table to grab MJ. A black sedan flew right where the two women had been less than a moment later.
After a moment, Gwen helped MJ to her feet as she stole a glance around the destroyed coffee shop. A large tremor shook the ground, letting everyone in the area know the threat was far from over.
"What's happening?" MJ panted, latching onto Gwen's arm.
Gwen said nothing, her attention solely focused on the large man approaching the two on 4 robotic arms. Otto Octavius stopped a few feet away from the pair, a large smirk sitting on his face.
"Gwen Stacy, and the girlfriend."