The warehouse he had been to most days though was worrying, the news report of a shootout and subsequent meth-lab discovery wasn't a happy image, but if a junkyard cleanup crew was there, she knew he'd probably be hauling trash rather than cleaning bloodstains. It would be fine though, Gwen was a sensible young woman and she trusted her with Peter, even if Peter didn't know he needed it.
After the phone call, Gwen stared at the address May had given her, and even if she didn't recognise it, she recognised the building. It had been in the news plenty, as even with Brooklyn, a shoot out was huge news. She had immediately called a cab and headed into the industrial zone to find out if Pete was okay. When she got to the address though she was shocked. Whoever had been here had done a great job. Most of the buildings had the usual grime and street dust blackening their walls but this one was clean. None of the windows were boarded up, and they shone as the light reflected off their anti-glare tint, which was either freshly repaired or newly installed. After the horror stories of the news, she was glad if Pete was in there it wasn't as bad as everyone made out.
The chainlink fence surrounding the property had been repaired and the gate swung on a newly oiled hinge. The path leading to the main door had been weeded and blast cleaned, small chips in the concrete had been filled and evenly sanded. This wasn't a work job for Pete, someone was renovating the property for sale again and Pete was probably on the crew helping them. Fresh welds around the large shuttered loading bay confused her though, why weld the bay closed if it was going to be sold but the fresh paint on the door, chalked as "wet," and the massive new bar lock were hints as to what she would find inside.
Gwen knew better than to just barge into a strange building so she banged on the door before noticing a buzzer, the intercom crackled as Pete's voice, "Hello?" sounded through it.
"Yeah Pete, it's Gwen, can I come in?"
It sounded like he fell off something and there were a lot of clattering noises before a, "Sure, sure," and the buzzer sounded as the lock released.
What was inside blew her mind. Everyone was talking about gentrification these days, in fact, her father had a huge file on some of the more aggressive attempts to get older or lower-income tenants out of their apartments so the renovators could come in, but this was on a whole other level. Two massive box apartments sat on one side, freshly sprayed a deep blue colour with a white corrugated plastic roof, unneeded in a warehouse but adding to the aesthetic, between them a raised white picket fence lined dirt patch had been tilled and waited for seeds. While unfinished, each box house had a path chalked out and Pete had begun to spray mark lines for a front yard. Piles of scrap steel plates were still lettered so she guessed he hadn't finished.
"What the hell Pete? I expected a crime scene, not a hipster farm. You explain right now mister." Gwen was faking her anger but she still wanted to know, and making Pete think she was mad was the fastest way to get proper answers.
"Oh uh, Hi Gwen," was all he said though,
"Don't you hi Gwen me, Pete, what's this, apartments? Are you helping build condos in old warehouses now?"
"Uh, no," he replied and cursed under his breath, he'd bet anything Aunt May put a GPS tracker on his phone and had now roped in Gwen to keep tabs on him. He rubbed his forehead between his eyes, "Uh here Gwen," Peter pulled out a folding chair he'd scavenged, and as Gwen sat down, he began to explain.
Listening to Pete talk, her own anger slowly overtook her curiosity about what he was doing. Harry hadn't been back at school either and even after several attempts to contact him, he hadn't answered either his phone or any texts. Once Peter had left school, Gwen had been unable to find out what was going on.
As well as his suspension, he'd also gotten a text rejection from Hammer, citing"inappropriate behaviour" as the reason for cancelling his internship. Pete had really got some crappy luck this time but her eyes began to sparkle when he started on the next part.
"So uh, yeah, I own the warehouse but please don't tell May. I kinda spent my college money on it but uh, look, see, two apartments," and motioning over to the partially build portacabin, "and my own place. I added some solar panels to the roof so electricities free, and,"
"This is great Pete," Gwen was in awe. Pete had shown her the inside of one of the box houses and it was huge, sure he had just sketched out the floor layout but she could see that for one person in Brooklyn he could get maybe $2000 easy for each one. "I want one," she immediately stated, "non-negotiable."
"Uh Gwen, I really need the money you know and it doesn't feel right charging you for,"
"No!" She pushed against his shoulder, "proper landlord, lease, and I want one. MJ and I were talking about getting our own place but this, this is amazing Pete."
Pete grinned and scratched the back of his head, "well yeah but most of the plans came from the internet, and Mr Sytsevich has been,"
"Alexsi Sytsevich?" Gwen interrupted him, "My dad has a file a couple of inches thick on him Pete, he's a crook." Pete looked away pulling a face, "but yeah, you already knew that huh?" She asked.
"Look Gwen it's a job and I'm not doinganything illegal I swear. I just uh can't tell May and please, please Gwen you can't tell her either."
Gwen smiled evilly at him, "It's fine Pete, you just gotta do one little thing for me." She took a deep breath, taking a risk to finally admit after all this time how she really felt about him,
"Anything Gwen, anything."
Looking him straight in the eye. "Good, so now we're dating."
Of course, Peter was okay with Gwen's attempt at blackmail. He'd liked her since they startedschool together but he lacked the courage to say anything, plus her dad was kinda scary whenever he'd met him. Of course, as soon as they had stared awkwardly at each other for a moment, Peter's brain caught up with his mouth, "so uh if you're my girlfriend then," and without even asking he had moved over and lightly brushed his lips against hers.
Gwen was shocked that the quiet 'is he ever going to admit he likes me' Peter had just kissed her, not a forceful domineering kiss but gentle testing the waters kiss that she didn't mind. It was good that Peter wasn't a two-dimensional studying robot, he had secrets and flaws even under all that anxiety. Her mind froze as she glanced down, making sure Peter's hand stayed at an acceptable level, she noticed he had a massive erection, holy shit she thought to herself, Peter was packing but her cheeks began to turn red. She'd never dated, and got the "boys are scum" lecture from her dad. This was as new to her as it was to Peter, but even she had a limit.