Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

For a Sunday, today was especially boring. Gwen had the day off and she hadn’t planned anything. Both her roommates were busy. Betty was off at some family event while Miles had locked himself away to focus on college homework. The thought of calling Hobie or Em jay and Glory did pass Gwen’s mind but a chill ‘me’ day sounded too good to pass up.

After a late morning, Gwen had spent most of the day cleaning up the apartment. She found cleaning kind of relaxing, but really there were just a lot of overdue tasks that needed to be done. With college back in gear and their band picking up attention, simple things like cleaning got left behind. Their place was small, so it made each task pretty quick. Finishing off the kitchen, Gwen was left wondering was how they let the inside of the microwave get so bad.

As Gwen brought her basket of dirty clothes to the laundry machines, she spotted Miles’s university sweatshirt draped on the back of a bar chair. Gwen paused. Miles was amazing at many things. Drawing. Physics. Cooking. But remembering to wash his jackets was not one of them. Gwen’s attention turned to the cracked door of Miles’s room. He had barely come out unless it was to grab food or use the bathroom today. Whatever he was working on had his full attention. Gwen understood the pain. She had tried the whole ‘go to college routine’ before realizing she didn’t like chemistry as much as she thought she did. She didn’t envy the wave of stress Miles went through every month.

Looking back at the hoodie, Gwen couldn’t think of any reason Miles would need his Uni hoodie. Miles wasn’t going anywhere. She tossed the hoodie into her basket. Gwen doubted her boyfriend would mind anyways.

After fixing up the living area, Gwen decided she was done for the day. Now she was lounging out on their old, plaid couch, scrolling through Netflix. Nothing was really piquing her interest. Maybe she should just put on the DnD movie again.

“Gwen?” Miles called as he stepped out of his room.

“Here,” Gwen answered as she sat up. Something was wrong. She could hear that nervous twang in his voice. And now that she could see him, she could definitely see that something was stressing him out.

“Oh hey.” Miles slid over to the back of the couch. He leaned on the couch like he wanted something firm to hold on to. “You haven’t by chance seen my sweatshirt? My Uni one?”

Aw shit. “Um… Yeah, I threw it into the washing machine earlier. Were you trying to go out somewhere?” Gwen asked, reaching for Miles’s hand.

Miles reciprocated her touch, shifting to hold her hand. “I see.” Miles bit his lip. His look turned distant. “How long ago?”

“Not long. Like half an hour ago? If you need a jacket to head out, I know you left your puffer jacket in my room.”

“No, No. I’m not trying to go out. I was just wondering where my sweatshirt went,” Miles answered, unable to hide the disappointment in his voice. He brought their linked hand to his lip. His face looked like it was deep in thought, like his brain was running a mile a min.

“Hey, is everything okay?” Gwen tried.

Miles snapped out of his trance. It was though the question itself brought him back to earth. “It’s nothing. Just college stuff,” Miles dodged.

“As a former college student, I know college stuff can be some very heavy stuff,“ Gwen said lightly as she guided him to her side of the couch. “And I also know from therapy that talking about your problems can help alleviate stress. Do you want to try?”

Miles sat like he had 50-pound weights on his shoulders. He was still holding her hand in his. His thumb rubbed the back of her knuckles like he was feeling each and every groove.

“It’s just some coding homework I’m stuck on… I should have started it earlier, but I put it off and now I’m in a bit of a time pinch. It’s not due for a couple days, but I don’t even know where to start. The problems are nothing like the ones we went over in class. It’s the first homework assignment, so you think it would be easy but no. I’ve been at my computer for hours and I can’t get anything to work,” Miles vented. He collapsed into Gwen’s lap. “I’m so sick of coding. I hate it when my math class makes me code.”

“They really manage to slip coding into every class nowadays don’t they,” Gwen grimaced.

“It makes sense to a certain degree. I don’t have to do all those ugly math problems by hand, but sometimes I think that would be easier if we just wrote it out.”

“Do they have dropped assignments?”

“Not sure. I’m going to try going to office hours tomorrow to see if I can get something to work. Something is better than nothing…”

“See! You’re already thinking about solutions. It’s only one assignment, right? You can start early and do better on the next one,” Gwen tried to help.

Looking down, Gwen could still see the tension in Miles’s body. It was a feeling Gwen knew all too well. Even when you have everything planned, the anxiety of a situation you can’t solve immediately can still linger. Miles was probably thinking through every bad scenario, coming up with a plan for any eventuality. Gwen loved his beautiful brain, but it had a bad habit of catastrophizing.

“You know, maybe we should-“ Gwen started.  

The ring of the washer machine finishing grabbed Miles’s attention. He immediately left. Gwen was quick to join him. She watched as he moved pieces of clothes from the washer to the dryer. Miles only paused when he had found his Uni hoodie. His fingers thoughtfully played with the fabric like he was in deep thought. In the end, he threw the hoody with the rest of the clothes and moved the rest to start the dryer.

Before she could even ask, Miles started, “It’s kind of become my comfort hoody. Whenever I feel stressed out, I put it on. It just makes me feel a little more secure.”

Gwen’s eyes widened. Oh, she really messed up. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize. I should have asked.”

“It’s fine. You didn’t know. If you had asked me earlier, I probably would have said it was fine anyways,” Miles chuckled. It was a pained laugh.

If Gwen could make time move faster, she would in an instant. But as it was, that hoody had a good 40 more minutes to go. “Is there anything I can do to help?” Gwen asked anyway.

“Hangout with me? I think I’m going to call it quits for the day,” Miles sighed.

“Always. I’m sure going to office hours is going to help work things out. You’re a smart guy. Don’t let those Professors make you feel otherwise.”

“Yeah, worse comes to worse and I tank this class, it won’t really matter. I’ve done well enough in my other classes that it won’t affect me too badly,” Miles added. Although it sounded more like he was talking to himself than anyone else.

“I doubt it’ll come to that. But jobs don’t care about grades anyways. You’ll get through this stupid math class and then you’ll never have to look at code again.”

“As long as none of my future classes try to slip it in. I can’t wait to be done with college.”

“That’s future you’s problem. Present you is going to come join me on the couch. Do you want to watch TMNT?” Gwen started to guide Miles back to the living area.

“Sure, which one?”

“The new live action one,” Gwen said with a coy smile. Miles raised an eyebrow. “I’m just playing,” Gwen teased. “You pick.”

A small smile graced his lips as the tension loosened in his posture. Miles pulled Gwen back so that he could wrap his arm around her waist. Resting his head on hers, he asked, “Why don’t we make some Pizza too? Eat some Pizza and watch some TMNT.”

“See, I love the way you think.”

Some hours later, Betty came back late into the night. Back in her apartment and the first sight she sees is her two roommates out cold on the couch. Gwen was snuggled against Miles. His larger body practically swallowed Gwen.

Betty sighed and shook her head. Cute, but really the worst place to sleep. The back pain was going to be killer. She could wake them… or she could let them firsthand learn the consequence of their actions. She liked the second one better. Betty draped a cover over them and turned off the lights as she left.

She really thought she was done walking into couples’ stuff when Glory and Em Jay moved out.

Chapter Text

Life brings all sorts of adventures. From driving through whiteout blizzards on the highway to standing in hour long lines for concerts, as long as she was among friends Gwen didn’t mind the journey so much.

But spending multiple hours just looking at silverware was kind of pushing it.

Gwen leaned back to stretch out her back before returning to resting her arms on the shopping cart. It was Sunday, and the store was buzzing with people. This kind of surprised Gwen honestly. The store wasn’t holding any sales or anything. This was just a plain old home goods store. Its shelves held everything but new and exciting things. But she supposed it was that time of the year when all the college kids were moving into their places for the fall semester. Miles was moving into theirs.

With Em Jay and Glory gone, Betty and her had a spare room to fill. They were in luck that Miles was looking for a place too. Gwen really didn’t want to go through the long process of changing flats. Plus, Miles and her were able to move in together with little complaints from either of their parents. The fact that the two of them would have separate rooms came as a great comfort to them. Never mind the fact they had long been sleeping with each other. It was as though the idea of them sharing a room meant they should be expecting to become grandparents in the next year. The idea of becoming a mother after freshly turning 21 sent a cold shiver down Gwen’s spine.

Just ahead, Miles stood, his pensive gaze burning holes into the boxes of silverware before him. Gwen loved him. She really did, but damn, if he couldn’t just decide a little bit faster. Gwen could hardly care what silverware they bought. As long as it didn’t look like a vintage set her grandma would buy Gwen would be happy just the same. Betty cared even less. She didn’t even feel the need to come. Then again, it’s not like Betty and her used western silverware all that much.

Miles shifted. A set of silverware in a blue box seemed to have caught his eye.

This could be it!

Her boyfriend stepped forward. His hand reached to touch the sample fork zipped tied to the box. As his fingers felt out the thin metal a disgusted look overcame his face. Miles shook his head and returned to his earlier spot.

Or maybe not…

Gwen rested her chin onto the back of her hands. As much as this frustrated her, Gwen knew this whole process frustrated her boyfriend just as much too. For Miles, the weight and feel of the silverware mattered just as much as the taste and the texture of the food. A meal wasn’t just about satisfying one’s hunger, but a full experience to be enjoyed and savored. Miles was forgiving when it came to other’s utensils, but he put his foot down when it came to silverware that he would have to use on a daily basis.

Feeling her gaze, Miles shifted to her with an apologetic expression on his face. “You’re annoyed at me, aren’t you?” Miles grimaced.

“I’m not annoyed,” Gwen waved off. “Maybe a little bored.”

Miles sighed and rubbed at the back of his neck. “I’m sorry. It’s just none of these feel right.”

“Then we don’t buy them,” Gwen shrugged. “It’s not a big deal. Really.”

“No, I don’t want to go back and keep using the plastic ones we have. It feels like a waste,” Miles’s shook.

Waste? Gwen’s eyebrows pitch together. It’s not like they were throwing them away. They’ve been washing and reusing them.

Miles gazed returned to the store’s selection as he continued. “I still don’t see how you two went so long without buying a set. Em jay and Gloria moved out what? A month ago?”

“Silverware is silverware whether its plastic, wood, or metal. One just happens to last longer than the others,” Gwen answered nonchalantly. Miles didn’t look convinced at all. “Hey, we got a nice set of chop sticks and spoons.”

“Yeah, but not every meal is finger food or can be eaten with chop stick,” Miles pointed back.

“Fair,” Gwen agreed. One of the most fun parts about having multi-cultural roommates was sharing cuisines. It would be a shame if Miles couldn’t flex his culinary skills because they didn’t have the proper utensil to enjoy his work. “Do you want to go to another store then?” Gwen suggested.

Miles grimaced. This was the fourth store they’ve been to today. She could sense Miles growing weary of all the shopping they had been doing. Online shopping had long been thrown out as an option. No one wanted to go through the process of buying and returning various sets of silverware before they found the right set. Gwen didn’t want to think about the stuff she had lying around that she had meant to return.

“Some of these prices are insane. 80 dollars for 20 pieces of silverware? Who even buys that?” Miles asked, waving to some particularly ugly sets.

“People with degrees in their big-boy professional jobs probably. You’ll get there one day,” Gwen encouragingly patted. As for this college dropout? Gwen was really hoping this garage band thing was going to work out in the end. She shoved all thoughts about the distant future to the back of her mind. Too much stress.

With a sigh, Miles grabbed a set and put it into the cart.

“You sure you want that one?” Gwen asked. He didn’t seem particularly excited by this set.

“Yeah,” Miles shirked. Gwen raised a brow at his comment. “This one is good for its price. Let’s go look for a trashcan.”

They walked around the store, grabbing the last couple of items on his list. It wasn’t long before they hopped in the checkout line. As they waited, Gwen noticed Miles kept looking at the silverware set he had grabbed. It was bothering him.

“Miles, are you sure your settled on this set?” Gwen asked again.

Tension built in his shoulders. Miles didn’t look at her when he answered. “I don’t want to drag this out longer than I’ve already had.”

Gwen reached out to hold his hand. “Hey, it’s important to you, so it’s important to me,” Gwen spoke earnestly.

Miles bit his lip. “There was one set, but it was more on the expensive side,” Miles shied away.

“Hey, this is mostly for you. Go put this one back and go grab the one you want.” Gwen pushed the bad set into his hands.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, now get a move on. The people ahead of us aren’t going to take forever.” Gwen was literally pushing her boyfriend now.  

A determined look spread across Miles’s face. Gwen watched as he stepped out and made a beeline to that oh so important section. A whisp of a smile graced her lip. Miles could be so silly sometimes. As she waited, Gwen looked at the candy on the nearby shelves. Vague ideas of tossing a bag of chocolate in the cart crossed her mind.

It wasn’t long before her boyfriend reappeared. It was just in time too. The next register had opened up. As the clerk rung up the silverware set Gwen grimaced when she saw the price. Yeah, that wasn’t a price Betty would be happy to chip in for.

“How about we make this our set? Like a… little investment in us,” Gwen asked.

An infectious grin grew on Miles’s lip. “Yeah, I’d like that,” Miles answered as he planted a kiss on her cheek.