Chapter 88: Bonus - : Soul

Chapter 88: Bonus Chapter: Soul

This is the bonus Chapter for last week’s 5k stones.

2.5k stones this week for the bonus.

Good luck.

...

After what seemed like a short night, John had woken up a little after 8 A.M. Less sleep wasn’t exactly an issue for him any longer.

Still, the bed that had been on its last legs had collapsed last night.

It was now basically reduced to flat scrap below the mattress. But even as three hours had passed after he woke up, John didn’t get up. The reason for that was in his arms.

Lying on his side, his arms had been around Gwen the entire time.

"Gwen..." He spoke slowly to not startle her.

"5 more minutes..." She groaned, nestling closer to his chest. It was like she didn’t want to get up.

"Ok." And he slowly caressed her bare back, sending her deeper into sleep.

They had repeated this a dozen times already. Still, John stayed in bed with her and didn’t force her to wake up.

Even if they were still naked and had hands all over each other, John didn’t feel that excited. It wasn’t that he wasn’t turned on by her toned body pressed against him so snugly, just that he had more control over his physical reaction now.

The last time they slept in the same bed, even with both of them being clothed, he could barely relax because of the arousal. But now, he was more composed. Rubbing her back as Gwen kept holding onto him till noon, refusing to open her eyes so this moment could extend as much as possible.

’I was being too immature...’ She almost banged her head against the wall as she finally sat on the mattress.

A light blush overtook her fair face as she watched him put on some pants, a few love bites all on his shoulder and neck.

’Honestly, why did he just indulge me? This is all his fault!’ Her mind just went back to last night as his heat all over her body was still fresh; she could still feel his fingers brushing over the curve of her spine.

"I thought you were a morning person." John smiled, putting a T-shirt on her dazed self.

"Far from it." Gwen sighed. With the usual morning laziness, her legs felt very weak at the moment too. It wasn’t something she couldn’t power through, but at this moment, she didn’t want to. "Help me to the bathroom."

And John wordlessly picked her up and took her to the bathroom like she was some princess. Giving her the wet toothbrush and just the perfect amount of toothpaste.

Taking the toothbrush in a daze, Gwen looked at John’s face for a moment.

"Are you planning something?" This was a bit too good; maybe she was still sleeping?

"Why would you think that?" He tilted his head.

"Well..." Gwen couldn’t exactly say anything else, so she changed the subject.

It was a detail she hadn’t noticed in the heat of last night, but it was quite glaring when she woke up. The blood spot on the mattress; it could only come from her based on where the spot was.

"How did I have a hymen?" She was sure it was gone because of a miscalculated landing during her early days as Spiderwoman. Just thinking about it made her grimace.

But how did it return now?

"That happened when I healed your injuries the other night." John had used a reversed cursed technique with all his cursed energy that day.

"I don’t see the connection." Healing shouldn’t do that; come to think of it, she hadn’t even asked him about that power.

"Well, rather than healing, it’s returning your body to the shape of your soul, which acts like a blueprint." John shrugged at her incredulous expression.

"So, you are saying that my soul had the hymen and that’s why it was restored?"

"Yes." He nodded as if it was the most normal thing.

"And what does my soul look like?" As a student of science, this hocus pocus wasn’t something she had much interest in.

But the one speaking about it had all her attention because of his deeper-than-usual morning voice, tickling her brain awake.

"Hmm? I wonder if I should tell you." He smirked, but there was a reason he didn’t want to poke the topic.

Gwen’s soul didn’t match her body. The soul form was a little younger than her current physical body. If he had to make a guess, the soul was still stuck on the moment before she got her powers as Spider-Woman.

Even if her body had grown and settled into being the masked hero, her soul was still unable to let go of the days she had as a normal girl.

It was a deep and personal topic that he had stumbled upon without knowing, and this certainly wasn’t the time to talk about it.

"Wow, so you get to see my soul, and I don’t? Seems fair." She scoffed.

"Indeed, it is." He fixed her unruly bed hair and lightly kissed her cheek. "I’ll be outside if you need anything."

As the door closed, Gwen blinked a few times before looking at her reflection. Mostly at the prominent red mark on her chest, revealed by the T-shirt’s loose neckline.

There were a few more on her breasts, but she only coughed them away before her mind sent her back to what happened last night.

Saying things like he could see her soul and whatnot after a night like that.

’He’s unbelievable...’ She had the silliest smile at the moment while brushing. And it only got sillier as she stepped out to breakfast.

"Not gonna feed me?" Gwen joked as she took a seat.

But he really held up a stacked bagel before her mouth. This was her cue to say she was joking. However, she decided to just enjoy the moment. It had been a long time since someone had fed her like this.

’I have read about aftercare following the first night, but this is something else.’ She drank his coffee again, finding it at the perfect sweetness she liked.

Still, her eyes narrowed as he handed her a pill after they had eaten. It was a birth control pill, written plainly on the blister pack. It was most likely because of what she did last night. Even if it was in the heat of the moment, Gwen had to agree it was a big mistake.

"When did you get this?" She was equally intrigued and embarrassed to talk about the subject, but there was no shying away from it.

And the main question was, why would he give her this? It’s something she could’ve bought herself.

After a brief pause, John had to explain the Hanma bullshit to her and pass the pill as a special medicine made to counter his ridiculous super sperm.

Where did he get it from? The system, of course.

It had the pills at 100 EP. 100 EP for one!

Although John didn’t want to rely on this greedy merchant, he didn’t want to take the chance with something like this. So, he folded in the end.

’I should look into a skill that helps me control this thing.’ It was a bit too much to worry about pregnancy after every night, and God forbid someone troublesome got a hold of the semen.

Of course there would be a day he’d want kids, but it certainly wasn’t now. Still, he was sure Gwen would have tons of questions about this.

And she did have a question at the top of her mind, at this moment.

"Why do you know about it so much that you have a special pill made for this exact situation?" Gwen’s eyes narrowed.

’How many girls did you get pregnant before this?’ Was basically her question.

"I know it because it is like a hereditary problem." John spun the tale about the adventures of the good old uncle Yujiro who found out about this, creating an imaginary family tree and the fictional solution to deal with the problem.

’Quite the family lore he has.’ Gwen didn’t press further, because from the looks of it and if Natasha’s info was anything to go by, John didn’t have any family members left. And it would be insensitive to ask about them now.

As for whether she was willing to trust this unknown medicine? Of course she was. It would be a bit weird if she didn’t trust him at this point, considering the reason she was taking the pill.

’I am not into teen pregnancy... That’s a nightmare.’ They were still quite young.

After taking the pill, she sat onto his lap and hugged him, nuzzling her face in his neck.

"This is the first time you’ve given the pill to someone, right?" She asked as his palms rested on her hips.

"Yes, since you are my first time." John smiled as she hugged him tightly, hiding her face from him.

"You didn’t really have to say it like that." She sighed into his shoulder.

Gwen wasn’t sure if she’d ever feel ready to have a child anytime soon, but there was one thing she was sure of as he kissed her ear.

’This guy... he’d be a great father.’

After another hour of holding onto him, Gwen reluctantly left John’s place.

’I have to find out who has been funding Doc Ock.’ And now that Gwen had recovered both physically and mentally, it was time to properly do her work as Spider-Woman.

Just like her, John also had a ton of things to work with.

The first thing he did after seeing her off was to remove the mattress and the broken bed, throwing them near the trash can in the alleyway near the building.

While there, he looked at the steel can that he had hidden in the far end of the alley so the garbage collectors would ignore it.

He opened the steel can he had sealed shut. The inside reeked of garbage juices, blood, and piss. He had stuffed the Vulture in here for a decent while, crammed the guy in like dirty laundry.

But he wasn’t here now, and that only meant one thing.

"We already took him last night while you were having your moment this morning." Natasha walked into the alley like she had been waiting for this moment.

John looked at her pulled-down baseball cap and civilian attire that smelled of cheap coffee.

"Took you long enough." He grumbled. It wasn’t easy to keep that guy alive.

"Well, Fury’s been busy." Natasha had already made sure no one was around and instructed a few agents to cut foot traffic towards the alleyway before making contact.

"And what’s keeping him so busy that he can’t even keep track of someone he just included in his roster?" John closed the steel can with a thud.

Truthfully, John wanted to handle the others that were involved, but he respected Gwen’s ways and didn’t want to overstep more than he already had. That’s why he stopped with just Vulture and then made contact with SHIELD.

"Your information." She pointed at him with a small smirk. "It leaked like you said it would."