[For Peter]

[be_normal]

Gwen Cooper has had better days. Better weeks and months, really, but then again, better was entirely relative. The first day, after she'd left Peter and made certain he was properly tucked in and tended to, she'd started crying and couldn't stop. It was all so silly, she knew, but that knowledge only served to make her feel worse. She was,

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[saves_the_world]

Peter wasn't crazy. He really wasn't.

The glowing hands, the heat. The going nuclear, or nearly going nuclear. It had been real. No one else had been able to see it, but that didn't mean it hadn't been very real.

Peter hadn't seen much of Gwen since that day. He though she was quiet the times he did see her, and Peter was getting very frustrated that she wasn't confiding in him. He wanted to give her space and generally was comfortable with waiting for Gwen to be able to talk about what was bothering her, but lately it was getting too much. Something was seriously bothering her and he intended to get to the bottom of it. He didn't have to think much on where to look for her; from what he'd heard, she'd barely left her bed in the compound.

Peter didn't bother to knock at the entrance to her section of the dormitory. He walked right in, but only a few feet from the entrance. "I just wanted to tell you that if you're avoiding me, you're going to have to find a better hiding spot than this."

[be_normal]

Gwen almost -- Almost -- quailed at that. Knowing that this was likely coming didn't help with looking at Peter and seeing so clearly by his expression and body language that he wasn't pleased with her, with understanding that he had every right to be angry at her.

"I'm not," she answered, just a little defensively. It was true, but only insofar that she wasn't avoiding him specifically. Her avoidance was equal opportunity.

[saves_the_world]

"You're not," Peter repeated. "Huh." His head shook the minutest of bits as he processed that. Studying her, the tip of his tongue touched the corner of his mouth. In the next moment, his mouth had settled into a thin line. Shrugging, Peter backed up a few paces and leaned against the wall.

"So you're not avoiding me. You're just hiding. Yeah, that's not the same thing at all, Gwen," he said finally, more than a little sarcastic.

[be_normal]

If there is one thing Gwen has learned she can't stomach, it's Peter upset with her. Ducking her head a bit, she tucks her hair behind one ear and avoids his gaze. "I just needed some time," she replies, and is aware that it didn't say much of anything. "I'm sorry," she adds, because she honestly is, if only for not being a stronger person for him when he needed it most.