DIANA SOON REALIZED THAT SHE HAD NO IDEA WHO PETER PARKER EVEN WAS. It hit her like a bullet train one morning when she was passing by the band room and overheard him telling their director that he had to quit. She had frozen in place, listening as he spoke. She didn't even know that he had been in marching band.

"I heard you quit Robotics as well, is everything alright, Peter?" Mr. Brown asked, sounding as concerned as Diana felt.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, everything's fine," he replied, "It's just that the Stark internship is taking up a lot of my time and I feel as though I should show that I'm really dedicated to it."

"That's very responsible of you, Peter," Mr. Brown replied, "But if you ever want to come back, just tell me. You're a part of us. And if you ever need to talk, know that I'm here."

She figured Peter was smiling. "Thank you, Mr. Brown."

"Of course. Now, go on, be young, talk to your friends. I'll see you later."

Diana startled slightly, trying to run away before Peter caught her. Unfortunately for her, he had skipped out of the room too fast for her to avoid.

"Diana," he said, surprised.

She turned on his heel, unsure whether to smile. "Peter."

"H-hey," he said, walking towards her, "How're you?"

She shrugged. "Pretty good. Uh, you?" She didn't know whether he was trying to be her friend or was pretending to be nice to feel better.

"Pretty good," he replied, crossing his arms. He looked around before lowering his voice. "I haven't been going out much during the night, May's schedule got her to come home earlier."

"Oh," she said, nodding, "That's, um..." she glanced to the side, "Is that a good thing, because I think it's good that you won't be stopping muggers, but you seem to like doing it, so..."

He shrugged. "It's kind of both. But, I mean, I'm still going out late, so I can still stop them. I just don't want her worrying about me, you know?"

"Yeah," she breathed, "Believe me, I know what it's like to worry about you."

His expression shifted and she bit her tongue; she shouldn't have said that. She ducked her head, staring at her shoes.

"So..." he began, rocking back and forth on his toes and heels, "Are we gonna become those people who won't talk to each other because we broke up?"

She glanced up at him. "What do you mean?"

He shrugged. "I mean, I don't know? I know you liked Spider-Man a lot more than Peter, but I like to think we can still be friends? If we were even friends..." he mumbled the last part to himself and Diana was jolted into a realization.

She had only ever interacted with a different Peter Parker. The Peter Parker everyone else knew was radically different from her own. The one that snuck into her window, called her doc, had a bright carefree feel about him. She had been friends with the Spider-Man of Peter Parker. It was evident by how she didn't even know his favorite color or that he was in marching band or even robotics.

She was so shocked all she could spit out was an incredulous, "What?"

Peter's smile dropped. "Well, I mean, if you don't wanna that's fine, we can be those people. Look, I'll see you later."

She watched him leave, her voice caught in her throat. Her mind screamed at her to turn around and explain, tell him that, yes, she wanted to be friends, she wanted to get to know Peter Parker, but by the time her body finally caught up he was already gone.

Because Peter Parker had just confirmed the suspicion he had had since that Skype call in London; Diana Smith only liked Spider-Man and that was it. She was just like everyone else, loving Spider-Man but ignoring the boy behind the mask.

Well, if she wanted Spider-Man, then Peter Parker would just have to take the backseat. He didn't like Peter all that much either.

º º º º º

Diana sat in the maintenance closet, talking to Nicky, hitting her head against the wall.

"Why. Couldn't. I. Say. Anything!" she cried, punctuating each word with a head bang, the racks filled with cleaning supplies rattling with every hit.

"Shh, shh, it's okay," he whispered, trying to soothe her through the phone, "It's okay, just talk to him, it'll be okay—"

"I can't talk to him now!" she exclaimed, "He probably hates me, he probably thinks I hate him! God, why am I like this?"

"Hey, look, it's okay. It's okay, come on. Is it lunch right now? Are you hiding in a closet during lunch time?" He sounded farther away from the phone, so she assumed she was now on speaker.

"Yeah," she sniffed, "I didn't wanna be around when Flash tried bothering him. Again. I just–I don't know. I mean, Gwen and Flash are still good, they're still friends, why couldn't I just say yes."

"Hey. Look, okay, I'm guessing you want closure. You want closure, yeah? You want to be able to say what you wanted to him, so he'd know?" he sounded rushed and breathless; maybe he was jumping on the couch, he did that sometimes whenever he got too excited.

"Yeah, but I can't say it now and I don't even know what to say," she whined, turning around to lean against the wall.

"Well, practice with me," he said, "Wait, give it one second. Yeah, okay. Now, practice with me. Say whatever it is you wanna say to Peter with me and I'll let you know if he would forgive you."

She sighed and slid down the wall, pulling her knees up to her chest. "I don't know if it'll be the same..."

"Come on," he urged, "Just try. Close your eyes and pretend that he's right there, he's gonna hear you out. Say what you gotta say."

She whined; she couldn't imagine talking to him just in front of her, it was too weird, too uncomfortable. She told him as much and he sighed.

"Okay," he said, "Okay, that's fine. Then tell me in third person. Tell me what you would want to say, you know? Instead of being like 'Oh, Peter, I'm so sorry', be like, 'I would tell him that I was really sorry because...' you know?"

She nodded slowly, running her tongue over her teeth. "Yes...okay, yeah, I can do that. Um...now?"

"Yeah, now," he said, sounding almost rushed, desperate. Maybe he was biting his nails. "Go on, let it out."

She sighed and closed her eyes, thinking back to when he had first asked, how she had choked up, how much she hated herself.

"I would have said yes," she began, still unsure about the whole roleplay conversation, "I-I would've told him that I totally would be his friend, to not let the relationship be weird."

"Because..." Nicky prompted.

She sighed. "Because...because, I don't know Peter Parker. I really don't. I know Spider-Man, I know Bugs, but I don't know Peter Parker. We didn't really talk, I didn't know that he was in robotics or in marching band, I only found out that he was in decathlon because of Flash. I don't know him at all and I want to. I really, really want to, because I miss him."

"You do?" Nicky asked. Not in a question, but rather as another form of prompting.

"Yeah," she breathed, "I really do. I miss him, but I know he's not the same person as when I left because no one is and I feel like I'm left behind and I don't wanna catch up."

"Y-you don't?" Nicky said, shocked, "O-okay, well, we can work on that when you're at your session. Backtrack to Peter, what else would you say?"

She sighed. "I don't know! I don't know what to say, that's my problem. I get upset that no one knows how to talk to me because of the interview, but I can barely talk to him myself. I only ever knew Spider-Man, Peter Parker is still a stranger to me."

"They're the same person," Nicky pointed out, "Same body."

"Are they really, though?" she asked, leaning forward, "Because Spider-Man is his alter-ego. He's so much different from Peter. I don't know, I just—I want to get to know Peter, but I want Spider-Man back, my Spider-Man. Not Tony Stark's. I want Bugs back."

"What if you can't get him back?" Nicky asked, "Like you said, things changed. What would you say to Peter, would you tell him you wanted his old self back?"

She scoffed. "Of course not, that's an awful thing to say. 'Hey, I liked the old you better, please change' that's so selfish of me! No, I wanna be his friend because I wanna like Peter Parker and the new Spider-Man. Maybe. I don't know, I don't really—I don't like what's happened."

"What do you mean?" Nicky asked, in the voice that let her know he knew exactly what she meant.

"I don't like change," she finished, "Three months, nothing was supposed to change."

Nicky was probably giving her one of his sad smiles. "Well, what are you gonna do?"

She sighed. "The world is changing. I don't really want to. Not yet."

"And Peter?" he asked, pulling her back.

"I just want him to like me. I wanna say I miss him, but I can't miss someone I didn't know. But I liked him as much as I liked Bugs or Spider-Man, because you're right, they are the same person, but I didn't care enough to pay attention. I just miss him."

She slid down so far that she was lying flat on the ground, staring up at the ceiling of the closet, wondering just where everything went wrong, wondering if she even truly loved him. She was a kid, did she know what love was?

"So, if you could sum it up in, at max, three sentences...what would you say to Peter if he could hear you out?" Nicky seemed to have calmed and was probably now just sitting, waiting.

She took a deep breath, thinking very carefully. "I want to be your friend, I want to get to know every side of you there is, because you're important to me. I miss you, so, so much. And I'm really, really sorry."

There was a pause. Then Nicky said, "Good job. I'm proud of you, this was hard. How do you feel now?"

She shrugged. "Better? I guess..."

"Good. Hey, I'll talk to you later. For now, just try to relax, eat lunch. Just calm. Bye." He hung up a moment later, leaving her to stare at the ceiling.

She sighed and crawled towards the door, leaning against it and staring at the racks of cleaning supplies. She stayed there for the rest of lunch, not thinking, just breathing. Just breathing.

Unbeknownst to her, there was a boy who was sitting on the other side of the door, thinking and barely breathing. He had been there the entire time, listening to her talk, after receiving an urgent message from a man, telling him to go by the maintenance closet right away.

Peter Parker needed to think. Diana Smith needed to stop. Both needed to take a deep breath and think. They felt as though there was a gaping hole between them when, in reality, all one of them needed was to turn around and open the door that they both thought was locked.

The door wasn't locked. It was just blocked. All they had to do was give it a push, try a little harder, and they would make it through to the other person. But both were too afraid to try and gave up before they even started, because they forgot that not all doors were easy to open. Some needed time and a little more effort.

Until then, the door remained closed.

º º º º º

"Hey, Peter, you wanna hang out at my place later today?"

Diana and Gwen stopped walking, listening in as they waited for Harry to be finished at his locker. The two girls watched as Harry leaned against the locker by Peter's, smiling down at him with that charming smile.

"Sorry, Harry, I would, but I've got the Stark internship that I gotta go to," the boy replied, closing his locker, "But maybe another time."

"Yeah, sure," Harry said, pushing himself off the locker, "How's that going, I forgot you got accepted for that."

"It's going good," he replied, walking with the boy down the hall, Diana and Gwen following close behind, "It's really good."

"Well, awesome," Harry said, nudging him with his elbow, "Just don't forget to have a life. Believe me, people don't tend to stick around if you choose work over them. No shade, just saying."

"Sounds like a lot of shade, but okay," Gwen said, catching both boys' attention. She squeaked and ducked her head. "Oops. Hi, Peter, how's it going."

"It's going good, you?" the boy asked, though his eyes were trained on Diana who held his gaze.

"I'm fine," Gwen said, glancing between the two of them, "Hey, Harry, help me get a book from my locker, it's too high for me. It'll just be a second, Diana, you and Peter just wait here." In a flash, the smaller girl grabbed the boy's hand, yanking him down the hall, away from the other two teenagers.

Diana stared at Peter, surprised that neither of them had been trampled by the oncoming traffic. He was staring back, lips parted, his hair still in that neat gelled way she had been so used to, before she had seen his messy after-mask hair.

"Hi," he said softly.

"I wanna be friends," she blurted out, "I-I do, I mean, I miss the old us, the old you, but I wanna get to know you. All the you's, you know? I'm sorry I didn't say anything earlier, I don't know what happened, but I just—"

She was interrupted by a bone crushing hug, suddenly enveloped by the soft fabric of a sweater, of the familiar arms hidden beneath them, of the familiar smell that used to cling onto her pillows for months. She clutched the back of his sweater like a lifeline, never wanting to let go.

"I missed you," she whispered into the front of his sweater.

"Me too," he whispered into her hair, sighing.

"Please, give me time," she continued, almost babbling the way he often did, "I'm still catching up because everyone's so different, but I still wanna be your friend, I miss you so much, but I just don't know anymore, I don't like change, I—"

"Penis Parker!"

Diana jumped as she felt herself being pried away from Peter, nearly falling onto the floor, if not for the other pair of arms. For a split-second, she was reminded of Danny and a burst of anger that she hadn't felt for him in a such a long time filled her body.

Then she remembered that only Flash ever called Peter by that nickname in middle school.

"What do you think you're doing, Penis?" Flash demanded, getting dangerously close to the taller boy who stood his ground, "You think you can just break her heart, then come up and think you can get back? No, you don't get to do that. You don't just get to—"

"Leave him alone, Flash!" Diana shouted, grabbing the boy's arms.

He whirled around so fast she jumped back, heartbeat quickening. "What are you doing?" he demanded, "Why do you let him just use you like this—"

"He's not using me!" she cried, "I just want to be friends! That's all! Friends and that's it, nothing more! Like you and Gwen!"

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Peter's expression shift. She couldn't catch it fully, but he seemed to deflate. If he had a hopeful expression, it had disappeared immediately. She wondered what she had said, but didn't have time to dwell on it for long.

"Gwen didn't make me cry for an entire night. Twice!" he growled, grabbing her shoulders, "Gwen and I are fine and that's why we're still friends. Parker," he spat out his name like poison, "Hurt you and he doesn't deserve you!"

"It's my choice too, Flash!" she shouted back, "I don't have many friends, in case you haven't noticed! No one knows how to talk to me, but he does. Are you really gonna ruin this for me?"

He let go of her shoulders, taking a step back. "You know, better than anyone else, that not all attention is good attention."

She was floored. She just stared at him, unsure of how to proceed. He was right. He was right, Peter had hurt her, but he had made her so happy. But like Nicky had said, love didn't cure depression. But she wanted a friend, someone who didn't look at her with pity all the time.

So she ran away. She turned on her heel and pushed through the crowd, ignoring Gwen and Harry's shouts for her to stop, pushing past all the people, ignoring the teachers. She just ran and ran and ran.

Even when Jesse called for her to slow down, as they were going home together, she ran. She didn't even falter. She wasn't planning on going home. Not yet.

She pulled out her phone and dialed Nicky's landline.

"Rhett Reiser speaking."

"Can I stay at your place?" she sobbed, knees starting to buckle, "I don't wanna go home yet."

"Yeah, of course. I'll make you a key so you can just come over whenever, okay?"

She tried not to cry as she thanked him, still running. She didn't stop running until she reached the subway, climbing in and gripping the pole like her life depended on it.

She just didn't know anymore. She just needed a friend, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to change to get one.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

( 07.26.17 )

WHY 👏 AM 👏 I 👏 SO 👏 BAD 👏 AT 👏 ENDINGS??!! Whatever, this chapter was more of a transition into Homecoming than anything, really...

There was A LOT of explanation to their relationship and partly why they broke up (cough cough miscommunication cough cough) so try to look out for it because Peter has his reasons and Diana has her own as to why she clings onto routine so much.

Basically, this was a transition and exposition chapter and I guess it's okay, but anyways...thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!