Chapter Text
High school is a whirlwind of ups and downs. Anything can happen, from meeting the love of your life (unlikely) to being beaten within an inch of your death by the school bullies (slightly less unlikely). Today sat pretty much in the middle, with a pretty much average high schooler sitting in the middle of his history class while spinning a pen in his hands.
He was flat out ignoring the teacher, staring at the clock as it slowly ticked closer and closer towards his lunch period. His leg bounced under the desk, pen spinning faster and faster until his fingers twitched and sent it flying directly at the student in front of him.
"Hey!" the student complained, turning around to glare at him. "Watch it, Parker," Ned Leeds sneered, flicking the pen back at him. He attempted to catch it, missed, and blinked as the pen hit him on the nose.
"Ned, Pacific, please pay attention," the teacher called from her podium. She frowned, craning her neck to see them in the back of the classroom.
"Pacific, please take off your hat. You know they're not allowed in class," the teacher chastised.
"Yes Miss André," Pacific mumbled, pulling off his green knit beanie. Medium-brown curls drifted down, settling just past his shoulders.
"Why do you wear that stupid hat anyways?" Ned asked. "Makes you look like a boy."
"Quiet please!" The teacher called before resuming her lecture. Pacific slumped down further in his seat, stuffing his hat into the pocket of his hoodie as his leg continued to bounce.
"One more minute," he thought, watching the seconds hand tick closer and closer to the twelve atop the clock.
Finally, with an ear-piercing shrill sound, the bell rang.
"Finally!" Pacific hissed under his breath, snatching up his textbook, notebook, and pencil pouch before practically sprinting out of the classroom. He wove through the hallways, chasing a shock of blond and pink hair ahead of him in the crowd.
He caught up to Gwen at their lockers, conveniently located right next to each other. It took him three tries to open the combination lock, swear words barely being held back the whole time.
"Do you need some help?" Gwen asked, raising an eyebrow at his struggles.
"No I've- oh there we go," Pacific muttered, finally yanking the door open. He shoved the textbook and notebook into their respective places, exchanging them for his math folder.
"Why are you putting your history stuff away?" Gwen asked. He looked up, noticing her leaning against her closed locker. "We've gotta work on that project, remember?"
Pacific paused, folder halfway out of the locker.
"Um. What project?" he asked sheepishly, slowly sliding the folder back inbetween his other folders.
Gwen rolled her eyes as he frantically grabbed his history supplies again. "The project Miss André assigned today?" she answered. "Pac, were you not paying attention again?" she groaned.
"I was!" Pacific argued, shutting his locker. They began to walk towards the cafeteria together, like they always did. "I just got a little distracted near the end!" Gwen rolled her eyes.
The hallways were crowded, yet unable to separate the duo as they walked. Pacific's best friend in the whole world explained the project to him as they manuevered the hallways. It was simple, a slideshow presentation in pairs on differing events during the Civil Rights Movement. Gwen and Pacific had been assigned the Seneca Falls Convention.
They managed to make it through the lunch line with plenty of time to spare for both eating and attempting to start the presentation, a rare occurrence in their school's cafeteria.
"Back up, how did we even get assigned as partners to begin with?" Pacific asked as they sat down, setting their trays on the table. "We never get paired together when the teacher chooses, and I've got horrible luck on the randomizer."
"We were allowed to choose," Gwen reminded him. "I claimed you before anyone else could. You may suck at paying attention but you're like second in the class you know," she pointed out, quite literally by pointing a half-baked mozzarella stick at him.
"That's only because I do good on the homework," Pacific countered, rolling his eyes. Or rather, her eyes. She noticed the shift, almost immediately feeling more at ease about the long hair settled on her shoulders. If Gwen noticed the way tension left her shoulders, she didn't say anything.
Gwen probably didn't notice, absorbed in her textbook. Pacific started to follow suit, opening her notebook and looking for any notes she'd taken during that lecture.
The two began to work in silence- silence between the duo anyways. The cafeteria was loud as usual, filled with a group of roudy high schoolers.
"Oh!" Gwen's head snapped up, her sudden exclamation making Pacific jump. "By the way," she continued, ignoring her friend's fright, "Science Club moved to Thursdays."
"Did remembering that really warrant giving me a heart attack?" Pacific teased, dramatically clutching at her chest.
"Yes, because now we only have tomorrow night to work together on the project together," she pointed out. "I won't be at lunch tomorrow, and I've got a shift at my internship tonight, and you'll probably need study hall to finish that math homework I saw you pulling out of your locker earlier."
"How do you know I didn't do most of it already last night?" Pacific challenged, pointing a plastic fork at her.
Gwen raised an eyebrow. "You sent me a recording of a song you were learning, which means you spent the entire afternoon practicing that song and making sure it was good enough to send me, because you get self concious about sending people recordings with errors. So no, you didn't do your math homework last night, or probably any other homework you have due."
"You know me too well," Pacific complained, stabbing at her half-eaten mac & cheese. "But seriously, you try mastering the fingering on the piano for a song that's ten minutes long in less than a whole afternoon. It's not my fault that stuff takes ages to figure out sometimes," she added, throwing her hands up in exasperation. Gwen had a good point though. Besides this latest project she had two half-finished essays due on Monday, the math worksheet due in two periods, and a math test on Friday.
"And that's why I planned for you to use study hall!" Gwen answered triumphantly. "Plus, you'll have tonight since I've got work."
"Why can't we just work together after you get out of work? I've got lessons tonight in that area, I could just walk you home," Pacific suggested. "You don't live that far from Alchemax, right?"
"Only if you get all your homework done," Gwen decided, shooting her a stern glare. "And I mean all of it."
"Jeez, you're so bossy." Pacific jokingly rolled her eyes.
"Well here's another order for you missy- get eating! Lunch is almost over!" Gwen yelped, glancing down at her watch.
Pacific glanced up at the clock, then down at her still-very-full-plate. "Yeah, that's an order i'll follow."
The minute the school bus' brakes began to squeal to a stop in front of Pacific's apartment building, she was already out of her seat and ready to sprint towards the entrance. Before the rest of her apartment's occupants had even left the bus she was already jogging up the stairs. It took her a few minutes of key-fumbling to unlock her apartment, the teenager bolting towards her room the second she was successful.
A note on the fridge caught her eye and she slowed down briefly to read it. Her mom's careful script was familiar, stating that she'd be home late.
Well that was nothing new. Pacific's mom was a police officer on track to become a captain, and late nights were usual for her. The only problem was dinner, but if Pacific's memory served correctly there was leftover taco meat in the fridge. Plus, a study session with Gwen was bound to include lots of snacks.
The afternoon was a frenzy of work, Pacific somehow managing to overcome her procrastination and tackle every single assignment. She typed paragraphs upon paragraphs for her essays, rounding each of them out nicely with a formatted citations list tacked on to the end.
The study hall after lunch had given her sufficient time to finish the pre-calc worksheet before class, which meant no makeup work. Instead she poured over her notes and study guide, hoping to absorb enough knowledge to pass the test the following day.
As focused as she was on her work, Pacific didn't notice her alarm going off for a few seconds. Eventually she was pulled out of her math-induced stupor, blinking to clear the numbers swirling in her vision as her phone chimed.
"Shit," she hissed, shutting off the alarm with fumbling fingers. She'd lost track of time and was about to be late for her piano lesson.
Music books were shoved into her purple backpack, history textbook and notes following suit. Her hair got tied up in a hasty ponytail, keys shoved in her jeans' pocket. She rummaged through the papers in the bottom of he rbag, feeling relieved when her fingers brushed against the fake leathery feel of her wallet.
"Good, I didn't lose that somewhere," she muttered, tugging on her a sneaker while standing up. One one foot.
She almost fell over several times, keyword almost.
By the time she made it to her piano teacher's studio she was only a few minutes late- an improvement on her usual arrival time, if you asked her. At this point she was convinced her teacher kept the time slot after her open on purpose, so she wouldn't cut into anyone's time.
An hour later Pacific waved to her teacher as she left the studio, her other hand gripping the strap of the backpack she had slung over one shoulder. She zipped up her hoodie and started down the street, heading for the large, brightly lit building not far away. She could hear the glowing Alchemax symbol from half a mile away, even with all the tall buildings around.
As she waited for the lights to change at a crosswalk her phone buzzed in her back pocket. She pulled it out, a text from Gwen lighting up the screen.
gwenny :3
u on ur way???
She glanced up, making sure the crosswalk light was still red before answering.
gwenny :3
headin over now, hows werk goin??
*wrrk
*work
mehhhhhhh kinda boring today im just doing paperwork.
hurry up girl 😭
will do pinky ✌️
The light switched, but Pacific paused, staring at the texts.
Hurry up… girl. A simple word. Four letters. One that had felt completely right earlier, but now felt so… off.
The jostling of the crowd around her finally brought her back to the present. She moved forward with the other pedestrians, sorting through different pronouns.
After a few minutes they finally settled on they/them, glancing at their reflection in a glass building as they passed by. The green hoodie and jeans they were wearing didn't immediately trigger an ick, but their long hair around their neck was starting to get pretty annoying.
The knit beanie they'd been wearing that morning was thankfully still shoved into the pockets of their hoodie, and it only took a moment to tuck their hair inside. Their bands and a chunk of shorter hairs poked out the bottom, but those didn't give them the same discomfort the long ponytail had.
They mused over the text Gwen had sent as they continued to walk towards the glowing laboratory, the last word repeating over and over in their mind.
Girl, girl, girl, girl, girl.
They couldn't fault Gwen for misgendering them- heck, she didn't even know they were genderfluid, or queer at all. She might've suspected, but she'd never said or asked anything about it.
As their mind dwelt on this, more thoughts began to run through their head. Would Gwen care? Would she be disgusted? Would she still be Pacific's friend, even then she'd never said anything remotely against queer people?
And of course, the million dollar question:
If Pacific ever confessed their crush on their best friend, would there even be the slightest chance of Gwen reciprocating their feelings?
That crush had existed since sophomore year- hell, probably closer to the end of freshman year. Gwen had been approached by a fellow student who wanted to ask her out, and Pacific had mistaken their jealousy for not wanting to lose their friend.
The realization had hit them at about two a.m. on a sleepless night nearly a whole year ago, along with the realization that distancing theirself from Gwen was probably the best route to take, in order to let their crush fade. That was a lost cause. The two had been inseperable since elementary school, since Pacific had shyly walked into her ballet class, shoes clutched tightly in her fingers. Gwen had helped show her how to tie the laces, and they hadn't left each other's sides since.
Pacific realized the inner monologue was making them grin like an idiot, and they did their best to tamp the rising feelings down. They couldn't be overly obvious about the crush around Gwen when there were still so many 'what-ifs' up in the air.
A cold winter wind blew through the streets, making them shiver. They silently wished they'd dressed better for the occasion- a thicker coat, a scarf, even a pair of gloves would've been helpful. Instead they simply tugged their beanie down and zipped up their hoodie as high as it would go, stuffing their cold hands into their pockets.
A police cruiser sped past with siren blaring and lights flashing as they walked, now only two blocks from Alchemax. Pacific tried to glance through the window, trying to catch a glimpse of the driver in case it was their mom, but the car drove by too fast.
Another cold wind blew past. They pulled their hood over their beanie and sped up, nearly jogging the last block and a half before making it inside the building. Fortunately Alchemax's penchant for groundbreaking technology and experiments also came with a pretty good heating system.
The receptionist looked bored as they walked up, fingers hovering over his keyboard. His nametag read Rodrigo Guevara, hanging halfway off his shirt.
"I'm here to see Gwen Stacy?" Pacific offered. The receptionist raised an eyebrow.
"Are you asking me or telling me?" he asked.
"Um- telling?"
Rodrigo rolled his eyes, typing something into his computer. "Name?"
"Gwen Stacy," they repeated.
Another look. "Your name, sir- ma'am- please," he said, stumbling over the honorific. Well that was nothing new.
"Pacific Parker," they answered, feeling slightly more grumpy.
More typing, then he finally pointed towards the left wall.
"Elevator is that way, fifteenth floor," he said, sounding bored. "Welcome and enjoy your visit to Alchemax Laboratories, the most advanced-"
"Thank you!" they interrupted, dashing off towards the elevator before he could finish. They pressed the button about twenty times, impatiently waiting for the elevator to arrive.
A few people passed by, giving them weird looks. After realizing this was a pattern and not coincidence, they flipped their hood down.
The elevators finally slid open with a soft 'ding,' Pacific stepping inside before they'd fully opened. Their thumb spammed the number fifteen until the doors had closed and the metal box began to rise.
A minute later the doors opened to the correct floor. They stepped out and immediately bumped into a frazzled looking scientist, a glass box clutched in their hands with a few spiders crawling around inside. The scientist muttered half an apology before shoving past them and frantically stabbing a button inside the elevator while balancing the box against their hip.
"…Okay then," Pacific muttered, slightly amused as the elevator doors closed. They adjusted their backpack before realizing they hadn't received any directions besides 'fifteenth floor.' Thankfully a familiar face was quick to walk over, pink-streaked hair held up in a bun and dressed in a white lab coat.
"Gwen!" Pacific said, relieved.
"You made it!" she cheered, hooking her arm around Pacific's and leading them deeper into the lab. "I've just gotta fill out some paperwork and clock out, and then we can leave. Shouldn't take me more than five minutes."
"I picked up a bunch of snacks for us, so we've got plenty to munch on while we work," Gwen added. "We should be able to knock out this thing in a couple hours."
"I looked over the rubric while organizing my notes," Pacific offered. "It looks pretty straightforward."
"Even better," she answered triumphantly. "That means we can-"
A blinking light from a pocket on Gwen's labcoat cut her off. She pulled out her phone and groaned.
"I've gotta answer this. I'll be right over there at my desk- Don't touch anything," she warned, answering the call and walking off. "Stacy speaking. Mhm… oh, yes, of course! I've got it right here."
Pacific looked around, immediately bored without the presence of their best friend. Glancing back over at Gwen, they decided to take a lap. They knew the look on her face. They weren't leaving for another fifteen minutes, if that.
They brushed their bangs out of their face as they turned right. Gwen had only said not to touch anything, not that they couldn't wander. Besides, how much of a maze could the place have been anyways?
As it turned out, Alchemax was pretty much a labyrinth. Within the next ten minutes Pacific got so turned around they weren't sure which direction they'd come from, much less where Gwen's desk was. What had started as a boredom fueled desire to move around had led to Pacific staring down multiple unfamiliar hallways with many unfamiliar doors.
They walked down the latest mystery hallway, scanning the doors for anything familiar in hopes that they'd gone in a circle. Unfortunately, nothing stood out to them.
"Gwen's gonna be so mad at me," Pacific chuckled, doing their best to find humor in the situation. On a whim they pushed open a random door, hoping to find a map, a window, even a person to give them directions.
Instead they froze at the sight of giant glass panels covered in spiders. Web-spinning arachnids of all shapes and sizes crawled around the room, spreading their silk everywhere. There was a desk near the door Pacific had opened, facing a glass wall. It looked like the wall was supposed to separate the desk from the spiders' enclosure, but unfortunately the glass door was wide open.
"Oh hell no," Pacific yelped, immediately slamming the door shut. They brushed at their arms, feeling a crawling sensation as imaginary spiders crept over their body. Pacific shuddered and turned to the right with a newfound determination to get out of that laboratory.
"There you are!" Gwen scolded from behind them. They whirled around, feeling like a deer caught in headlights. Unfortunately they turned too quickly, a foot catching on a loose shoelace and almost tripping them over.
"What were you doing in that room?" she asked, speedwalking over. Her lab coat was missing and her hair was down- evidently she'd already clocked out. "How'd you even get in? It's supposed to be locked- as in keycard, thumbprint, retinal scan locked!"
"Maybe someone forgot to lock it," Pacific shrugged sheepishly. They remembered the harried scientist from earlier, clutching a box of spiders as they rushed past. Maybe they'd left the door open.
"I've clocked out, so let's just get out of here before you break into anywhere else," she huffed, grabbing Pacific's hand and dragging her (hopefully) towards the exit.
"I wasn't trying to- GAH!" Pacific yelped as she tripped over her shoelace once again, almost knocking Gwen down with her.
"You alright?" they asked each other at the same time. Gwen was the first to laugh.
"Tie your shoe, idiot," she told them, a hint of affection in her voice. "We can't finish our presentation if you crack your nose open on the floor."
"Yes ma'am," Pacific answered, giving a mock salute before kneeling down.
As they tied their laces there was a strange, brushy feeling on their hand. Then it felt like something was crawling up the side of their palm, but that sensation was probably from the giant swarm of bugs they'd just seen.
Except this wasn't just a placebo feeling. Pacific watched in slow motion as a spider crept over the side of their hand, registering the black legs and blue-ish markings.
And then it sank its pincers into their hand.