INSTEAD OF WATCHING A TRASHY ROMCOM ABOUT A SHIRTLESS MAN SWEEPING A PRETTY GIRL OFF HER FEET ON A LARGE FLATSCREEN TV, DIANA AND GWEN HAD TO WATCH A BUNCH OF SWEATY BOYS TACKLE EACH OTHER ON A LARGE GREEN FIELD IN THE FREEZING COLD. The two girls sighed, sitting on the bleachers, barely even clapping along with the rest of the stands whenever their team did something good. Gwen, who had initially tried out to be a cheerleader, only to back out right after, watched the squad, wincing whenever someone just didn't quite stick their landing. Diana watched everyone else in the stands, wondering what made them feel so involved. It wasn't a judgmental question, merely a curious one.

"I can't believe your godmother convinced my dad to let me leave," Gwen said, sighing, "It's impressive. I almost wish she hadn't."

"Same," Diana said, needing to shout over the roar of the stands, "But she couldn't show up for 'The Big Game' and she wanted Jesse and I to be there to support Flash, but we needed someone else."

Gwen smiled teasingly. "I'm so glad I was a last resort invite." Diana snorted and nudged her lightly, laughing when Gwen shoved her harder, nearly off the edge of the bench.

"Hi," Jesse said, reappearing with her arms filled with snacks. Her dark hair was put up in a messy bun, different from what it had been like when she stood up and offered to buy the food. She dropped some into the girls' arms, sitting back down. "What did I miss?"

Gwen shrugged. "No idea."

Jesse laughed slightly and watched the game. "I'm actually pretty into football, you know? If you're into it, it's pretty fun." She reapplied her lipgloss before shoving a few nachos into her mouth, humming.

"I heard Peter Parker is here today, he's helping out the yearbook," Gwen said, looking around for the boy.

Diana raised an eyebrow. "What's with you and Harry being so into Peter Parker? I mean, he's a sweet kid, but I don't get the interest. Did he do something?"

Gwen shrugged. "We just...we feel bad, you know? After you told us that Flash picked on Peter for years, well...we want to fix things, you know?"

Diana nodded earnestly. "Yeah, yeah, I get it. That makes sense. Is that why you wanted me to ask Flash during the reunion if he wanted to get better?"

Gwen nodded, biting her lip. "We wanted to tell you, but we weren't sure if you wanted to involve yourself. He is like your brother, you know?"

"Well, he's my biological brother, but I don't like what he does, so..."

The two girls tensed and looked over at Jesse who was looking at them with a raised eyebrow. "I mean, that therapist we saw for a few weeks explained some things and it makes sense, but I still don't like it."

Diana nodded slowly, remembering the therapist the entire family, herself included, having already lived with the family for two years, had gone to see after the death of Harrison Thompson. She was a nice person, understanding. She didn't understand why they only saw her for a short period of time, it was obvious that they all had to see her for some time, but never commented on it.

"Well," Gwen said, "I think it's great that you can continue to love him anyways. Very admirable."

Jesse had merely nodded before turning back to watch the game. She tucked her hair back behind her ear before jumping to her feet, shouting for her brother to move faster, jeering that he seemed to move more like a turtle than an actual person.

"Wow," Gwen commented, staring at the girl with wide eyes, "She's very passionate."

Diana laughed and opened the packet of sour candies, throwing a few in her mouth. "She really is. You should see her at home, it's not much different."

"How old is she again?" Gwen asked, taking a bite from the hot dog that she had asked Jesse to buy for her.

"Thirteen," she replied, throwing a few more candies in her mouth, "Eighth grade. She's coming here next year."

"Aw," Gwen cooed, "Then the whole family will be going to the same school. That's so cute, I should take a picture on the first day, it'll be adorable."

Diana snorted and rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say..."

The two girls sat in silence and watched the score board, finding themselves getting wrapped up in the game, the energy contagious. Diana found herself cheering with the stands at times if someone played particularly well, watching as Midtown quickly caught up to their much more skilled opponents.

"I think we're gonna lose," Gwen commented when they broke for the half, "We're catching up, but they're good."

"Maybe one of them will break a leg or something and we'll have the advantage," Diana suggested, lifting up her legs to let a few adults pass by on their way to the stairs.

Gwen gasped, smacking her lightly. "Diana, no, that's horrible!" She was about to continue when she caught sight of someone standing at the bottom of the stands. She waved her hands, shouting, "Hey, Peter! Peter Parker!"

Diana turned to look, surprised to find that the boy was, indeed, at the football game, a camera in his hands, his glasses sliding down his nose. She smiled and waved slightly when he turned to look at them, clearly confused as to why someone would be calling his name.

Gwen motioned for him to join them and, after looking around a few times to make sure they were, in fact, talking to him, he tentatively climbed the steps, coming to sit next to Diana on the edge of the bleachers.

"Hi," he said, "How's it going?" He fiddled with the camera in his hands, running his thumb over the sticker on the side that read: PROPERTY OF MIDTOWN SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY.

"Pretty good," Gwen chirped, leaning towards Diana in an effort to get closer to Peter, "How about you? I hear you're working with the yearbook."

"Yeah," he said, ducking his head, "It's really great. Freshman aren't allowed to work on the book in terms of editing, but they needed some photographers so I took some test shots and they liked them, so I get to help with the workload."

Diana was impressed. Helping with the yearbook as a freshman was just as surprising as playing during a football game as a freshman. The fact that they had played Flash at all during the game, even if it was only for a few minutes, still baffled her.

"Congratulations," she said, smiling, "That's honestly really amazing. You should offer to take senior photos, make some money."

Peter's eyes brightened. "That's a good idea! Yeah, I should look into that. Thank you."

She nodded, glad to see him so excited about something. "Of course, happy to help. So...when's our field trip again?" She glanced over at Gwen who raised an eyebrow, though her message wasn't clear.

"Oh," Peter said, remembering their conversation from the beginning of the week, "It's next Wednesday, October 17th. Remember to pack a lunch and photography is allowed, but no large electronic devices other than phones, tablets, and DSLR cameras are allowed in the bus nor in the exhibit."

Diana bit her tongue to keep from asking what exhibit they were going to, opting to comment, "Did you memorize a permission slip or something?"

He ducked his head and nodded. "Yeah. My Uncle Ben and I like to do this thing where he'll let me read over the emails from school that he gets and see how much I memorize in a certain amount of time. Depending on how close I get, sometimes I'll get candy or money or something, it's kinda stupid." He shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck, his cheeks pink.

"That's not stupid," the two girls chorused. They glanced at each other, smiling, before looking back to Peter who was taken aback, eyes wide.

"That's really sweet, Peter," Gwen added, "That's nothing you should be embarrassed about."

Peter smiled and ducked his head. "Thanks."

Diana thought back to his words. Emails from school. The permission slip was in an email that was most likely sent to Rosie. She filed away that information, hoping that he didn't start questioning her on specifics.

"So," Peter said, "Gwen, I heard you might apply for Harry's dad's internship program. He and I were texting this week and he told me, I wasn't just..." he trailed off, his cheeks pink.

Diana turned to look at Gwen who was smiling softly, albeit a bit ruffled, "Um...maybe? Yeah, he offered it to me after Diana turned it down, but I'm still thinking about it."

"You should do it," Diana said, "You came to the school for the science program, the internship would get you through the door."

Peter nodded in agreement. "Oscorp Industries is a huge corporation, if you interned there, colleges and labs all over would wanna take you in, Oscorp Included. You do this, you might be set for life."

Gwen laughed at the both of them. "You guys sound like Harry..." she sighed, "But I'd be working for his dad. I mean, Norman Osborn is a powerful man, but, I don't know if I can do that to Harry."

"He offered to help you out, though," Peter pointed out, now leaning forward to peer at Gwen, "That means this isn't you asking him to do you a favor, it's him offering to do something because he wants you to do something. It's his idea, so he can't hate it, because he wouldn't do something he doesn't like."

"Ideally," Diana added, "Unless his father asked him to. But this isn't one of those times, so, yeah, Gwen, do it."

She smiled and shrugged. "Okay, yeah, why not." She giggled as Diana cheered, nudging her with her shoulder.

Peter smiled as he watched them. "Gwen, are you going on the field trip too?"

She hummed, glancing over at Diana who waited, confused; Peter had just inferred that the field trip was optional. "Yeah," Gwen said, after a moment, "I am. I'll turn in the slip on Monday. Rather that than doing homework, right?"

Diana raised her eyebrows, turned away from Peter, silently asking Gwen to explain. The girl shook her head minutely; she would explain later.

They turned back to Peter who was flipping through his shots on his camera. Gwen gasped and reached out to pat both Peter and Diana's hands. "Peter, you should take a picture of us. A good example for your senior photo business."

He looked up at her, wide eyed. He moved towards the empty seat in front of them on the bleacher below, standing in a crouch to be level with them. "Uh, yeah, sure. Don't get mad at me, though, the camera's never really that kind. Just remember that," he sighed, trying to find a way to end his short tirade, "Remember that you both are really pretty."

He immediately winced, trying to take back his statement, groaning when the girls cooed over him, raising their voices a few octaves to gush over him, much to his chagrin. They were mostly joking, but there was a sliver of truth behind their words; he was sweet.

"Whatever," he mumbled, face bright red, raising up the camera, "One...two..." he pressed the shutter, the flash slightly shocking the two girls. Gwen had started to laugh, causing Diana to, but they stopped when they heard the shutter and saw the flash.

Peter pulled down the camera, looking down. He smiled, showing them the two he had taken.

The first was of the girls smiling at the camera. They were sitting close together, trying to make themselves small to fit into the frame. Gwen was trying to sit up taller to reach Diana's shoulder, smiling brighter than the latter. It was nice, pretty, and one had to admit that it was well shot.

The second was what made the two gasp. It was just after the picture was taken, when the two started laughing for almost no reason at all. They weren't sitting as close together and weren't too worried about trying to seem smaller. Gwen was doubled over, but her face could still be seem, slightly turned to look at Diana. The other girl had thrown her head back slightly, though she was looking down at the smaller girl. Both looked purely happy.

"Wow," Diana breathed, "That's..." she trailed off, just looking at her face.

She looked happy. Her heart clenched, realizing that she had been able to laugh. She had been able to feel happy. She was able to laugh for as long as she wanted, feeling how she wanted to feel. Sometimes, when things were low, there would be a feeling in her chest. She knew she was supposed to be happy, she wanted to be happy, she wanted to laugh, but the feeling wouldn't let her. It was as if getting a pair of the best headphones in the entire world, but the wire was broken, so the music was unbearable. 

Seeing that picture made her want to cry in the best way possible.

Peter glanced shyly up at them, sitting down by that point, lowered because of the bleachers. "You looked prettier in real life."

The girls cooed again, Gwen going so far as to ruffle his hair. He wrinkled in nose, barely even trying to bat away her hand. He pushed up his glasses and looked over at Diana who was just smiling at him by that point.

"You want me to send this to you?" he asked, motioning to the second picture.

She nodded, feeling her chest tighten. "Yes, please. Thank you."

He smiled. "Of course. I'll send it to your school email. DSmith, right?" He pulled out his phone and quickly wrote a note for himself.

While he was occupied, Diana took that opportunity to glance over at Gwen who was smirking at her, the way she normally did with Harry. Diana felt strangely naked. She looked over at Jesse who, since the game hadn't restarted, was looking at Peter with mild interest.

"Are you dating anyone?" she asked, reaching over to tap him lightly.

He looked up quickly, his glasses nearly falling off. He turned bright red, stuttering, "Uh, n-no? W-why?"

Jesse shrugged and went back to playing with her phone. "Just wondering, don't worry. It's just that my brother isn't dating anyone and it's kind of a problem."

Diana snorted, covering her mouth. "Jesse, it's not a problem."

The younger girl shrugged. "I don't know, I think he'd be a lot less annoying at home if he had someone to text all the time. I don't know Flash's preferences, so I'm just asking everyone."

Peter cleared his throat, looking almost purple, shaking his head. "Uh, no. Flash doesn't and probably never will like me. At least, not in the next few months. Trust me."

Jesse raised an eyebrow, barely looking up from the article she was reading. "Okay, but if you want a date, just text Diana and I'll hit you up."

Gwen, who was laughing so hard she was completely silent, lifted her head, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Peter, I'm so sorry, your reaction was just really, really funny, oh my gosh."

Peter scoffed, dropping his head into his hands. "I want to die...I crave death, someone please kill me."

Diana patted his shoulder. "Same."

Peter sighed and turned around to look back to the game which had just restarted. "Can I stay with you guys up here? Ned isn't here, so I'm kind of all alone." Ned Leeds was Peter's best and only friend, the two having met in middle school, Diana remembered him well, he was sweet too.

"Sure," Gwen said, pulling out a few dollars, "But you gotta buy us all popcorn first."

He gestured to all the snacks that sat next to them, then thought better and took the money. "Alright. Butter?"

Gwen raised an eyebrow. "What do you think?"

"Extra butter. Got it." The boy slid out of the bleachers and down the stairs, on his way to the concession stand.

"He's pretty cute," Gwen commented, "In a nerdy, shy boy sort of way."

"Yeah," Diana agreed, "He's really sweet. You into him?" She resisted the urge to say "like-like", wanting to leave that phrase back in middle school where it belonged.

Gwen shrugged, opening another packet of candy. "No, not really. I mean, he's cute, but I don't see us dating. Are you?"

Diana shrugged as well, trying and failing to catch a glimpse of him in line. "No, not now at least. But I agree, he's cute."

Jesse sighed loudly. "Then have him date Flash. He's cute and nerdy, Flash would be into that."

Gwen raised an eyebrow. "Would he?"

Jesse shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe. I should ask. What's the boy's name again?"

"No," Diana interjected, "Do not tell Flash. I'm serious, Jesse, it could end up really bad for Peter if you do."

Jesse raised her hands, frowning. "Jeez, okay, calm down. I won't tell. I'll just let Flash know that you're keeping him from finding love."

Diana nodded, stealing some candy from Gwen. "Good." She turned back to look at the game, trying to figure out which team she was supposed to be cheering for. "Are we blue or yellow?"

"Blue," Gwen replied, moving to help Peter who was climbing the stairs, four bags of popcorn precariously balanced in his hands.

Gwen moved back to sit in-between Jesse and Gwen, Peter coming to sit at the edge again, next to Diana. He smiled briefly before going back to watch the game with a wistful look in his eyes. Diana raised her eyebrows, coming to a quick realization: Peter wanted to play football.

"Did you want to try out?" she asked, gesturing to the field.

Peter glanced at her and nodded. "Yeah, but I didn't. In case you haven't noticed, I'm not the most athletic person in the world."

Diana gave him a sympathetic smile. "Yeah, but you've got a lot more going for you."

He smiled and ducked his head, saying nothing. He reached over and snitched some of her candy and she scoffed, smacking him lightly. He laughed smugly, letting her take some of his popcorn in retaliation.

As the game wore on, Gwen and Jesse had grown on each other, bonding over social justice issues and beauty tips, bent over their phones, talking quickly about various topics that Diana couldn't keep up with. She had turned to Peter, making idle small talk about their various classes which quickly led to them talking about the latest movies coming out and how they haven't been able to read books in such a long time. Every so often, the three teens would find themselves cheering along with Jesse and the rest of the stands, too engrossed in their conversations to really care about what they were doing.

By the end, Gwen and Diana were fully invested in the game, Jesse's enthusiasm getting to them. They cheered along with everyone, louder when they beat Standard High by just one point. Peter cheered as well, albeit quieter, but he was cheering. Jesse had quickly become a favorite in the stands, everyone looking to her for audience member cheer instruction.

They all walked out of the stands together, the four of them walking fairly slowly, letting everyone pass in front of them first.

"You guys taking the train home too?" Peter asked as he stood at the bottom of the stands, taking pictures of the team celebrating on the field.

"Yeah," Diana said as they waited for him, "Flash is staying over at a teammates' house tonight. Walk with us?"

"Sure," he replied, following them down the stairs.

They all walked together, all four of them, chatting aimlessly about the game and what they had been previously talking about. The game hadn't changed much. Sure, Peter would be less of a stranger to Gwen, Diana, and most of all Jesse, but it wasn't as if he was going to join them at lunch right away on Monday. They weren't that good of friends. But he was a friend, at least somewhat, and that was good enough for now.

"So," Gwen asked as they waved goodbye to Peter who climbed onto his train heading to Queens, "Do we still regret not being able to watch trashy romcoms?"

Diana smiled, thinking back to Peter and the rest of the game. "Nah. As much as I love hot shirtless guys with cheesy pick up lines, I liked tonight more. I had fun."

Gwen laughed as they got on their own train, sitting down. "Peter Parker beat out Ryan Gosling?"

Diana scoffed, sharing Jesse's look of complete distaste. "Ryan Gosling's hot. Call me when Peter Parker gets abs."

AUTHOR'S NOTE

REWRITTEN: MAY 29, 2017/REPUBLISHED: MAY 31

I apologize for next chapter, it's not as happy as this one...moving on

Ugh, this ending was so hard, so I just referenced that one scene in the trailer where Peter's just standing shirtless in his room because yeah. This was a pretty long chapter, I'll be the first to admit, but I liked what was in it, we got to see more of Jesse and what she's like as well as more of Diana.

I wanted to include a bit more, but I feel as though I'll just let the story play out and not shove too much in at once, this is only the third chapter. Diana will find out about Peter...later on...yeah...

The conversation about him playing football is a callback to when Peter was talking to Tony in Civil War, saying that he would love to play football, but he couldn't then, so he can't now. Also, in that statement he mentioned that he'd had his powers for six months, so that would make his trip to the Science Hall in October, as mentioned.

The high school is called Midtown School of Science and Technology, as I gathered from
that still of Peter in a sweatshirt nearly a year ago

The bit about the therapist is important. That and the psychologist that was referenced last chapter, they're both crucial to the family plotline, so remember them (or don't and be surprised)

Jesse talking about finding someone for Flash to date is me saying that he's not dating Liz Allan in this fic (if Flash is the same age as Peter then he's not dating Liz, especially since she's a junior while he's a freshman during this time. If Homecoming changes that, well, I'm gonna ignore it). It's also me saying that Jesse doesn't assume people's sexualities.

I didn't do much research this chapter, so...thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!