You’re by the sparring mats, minding your business, maybe adjusting your gloves, when you hear it. A dramatic gasp. You pause and turn.

Gwen is standing in the doorway, jaw dropped, eyes wide behind her mask. She doesn’t speak right away. She just stares. She lets out a wheeze.

“Oh my god. Oh my god. YOU’RE YOU. You’re the you. The classic issue #12, ‘last panel standoff against Doom’ YOU.”

You shift uncomfortably. “I guess?”

She runs forward, actually runs, and stops just short of slamming into you. She circles you like you’re a rare Pokémon she never thought she’d see in the wild.

“I had your Marvel Legends figure. I still do. You were in the background of a cosmic crossover and still stole the scene. And that one run where you took down a helicarrier with, like, a stick and a grudge? I wrote an English paper on that.”

You raise a brow. “Seriously?”

She nods hard. “Got a B. My teacher didn’t get the nuance of Cold War allegory through superhero metaphor.”

She’s now holding out her phone, clearly trying to sneak a selfie without making it obvious. It’s painfully obvious.

“Okay-okay-okay I’m cool. I’m fine. Totally not freaking out. Totally not standing in front of a legendary, timeline spanning icon who once went toe to toe with Magneto in socks.”

You sigh. “That was one time.”

“It was a great time.”

You start walking toward the gear bench. She follows.

“I just didn’t think you were real,” she says more quietly, as if that’s a normal thing to say to a teammate. “Like I knew you were canon, but you’re one of those ‘sometimes appears, always cool, zero merch’ types. Like an underground album that only the real fans know.”

You glance at her. She’s not being sarcastic.

“You really used to read my comics?”

She grins. “I studied your comics. Your panels were basically a religion to me in high school. You made ‘doesn’t play well with others’ look like an art form.”

You shake your head. A little amused now. “And now?”

Gwen shrugs, smile still bright. “Now you’re standing in front of me and I’m trying to be normal.”