DIANA FELL INTO A ROUTINE, THOUGH IT WASN'T ONE SHE WANTED. Every day was the same. Wake up—more often than not with Flash at the foot of her bed—and get up before Harrison got into her room and demanded what they were doing. Eat breakfast and try to avoid any sort of conflict that early in the morning. Get on the train with the siblings and hope she catches a seat, but would probably be left standing. Go to school and deal with Flash shouting at Peter who no longer tried talking to her, as well as juggling the piles of homework and her friendship with Gwen and Harry. Then, most of the time, go hide out in Nicky and Rhett's apartment until she chose to go home.

It was the same routine every day and Diana found that going to Nicky and Rhett's apartment became less of a slightly-uncomfortable experience and more like walking down the streets as a native, not a tourist. A tourist held onto their belongings and worried about every twist and turn. A native walked with their head up and ignored everyone who ignored them.

So it came to be that Diana sometimes went to their apartment for more than just sessions and test drives. It was a place where she had friends, how could she not go?

"You know what the worst villain in fanfiction is?" Rhett asked as he sat on the couch, eyes glued to his phone screen.

Diana raised her head slowly, blinking furiously. "Wha-what? Um, n-no, Rhett, what is the worst villain in fanfiction?"

He turned his head to look at her with wide, crazed eyes, whispering, "Miscommunication."

She smiled tightly. "Uh...that's great, Rhett. Um, what sort of fanfiction are you reading?"

"Captain America fanfiction," he laughed, "Real person fics sometimes make me uncomfortable, but this is well written," he glanced over at her again, "It's a pairing with Tony Stark, don't judge me."

She laughed shortly, shaking her head. "O-okay, um, shouldn't you be working on grading papers and stuff?"

He scoffed. "Who needs work when you can read two paragraphs about how great Captain America's abs look?"

She laughed, running a hand through her hair. "How-how old are you?"

"Older than dirt, thanks," he replied shortly, "Don't judge me. Back in my day, we didn't have this kind of technology. Seriously, I'm from the 40's. Let me read my fics in peace."

She shrugged, going back to her homework. "I wasn't the one who brought it up, old man."

He grabbed the pillow under his head and threw it at her and she shrieked, barely able to dodge it as he grazed her face and landed limp on the floor by the dining table.

"I actually need that, can you hand it to me?" he asked, making grabby hands towards the discarded pillow.

She groaned and stood up, walking to the table and picking up the pillow, throwing it at him, landing right on his stomach.

"Nice shot," he commented absentmindedly, "Hey, has Nicky made you anything yet?"

She shook her head, sitting back down. "Why would he?"

"Well, you've been helping him test out all those things, rocket boots yesterday, right?" She nodded and he threw up an arm. "Well, by this point, he probably owes you some technological favors. Ask him for something."

She tilted her head, going back to her homework. "Like what?"

He shrugged, going back to his fanfiction. "I don't know. Something that would benefit you that only he would be able to get for you. Maybe something to do with your ex or Spider-Man."

She blinked. "They're the same person."

He choked. "Spider-Man's a teenager?"

She scoffed. "You didn't know this? I thought I told you?"

He motioned to his phone. "I'm a man from the 40's reading fanfiction, what did you expect, I'm forgetful!"

She sighed and shook her head, answering a question on her homework. "Well, I don't know what I'd ask him for. He's been designing all this cool stuff, but then he just throws it in the blueprint pile."

Rhett lowered his phone. "Are the measurements the same?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I noticed them overlapping as I looked at more and more. Don't most inventors use placeholder measurements if it's more of an idea and not specifically for someone."

Rhett bit his lip, nodding slowly. "Sure...hey, bring them all out, would ya? I wanna take a look. Tell me which ones you think are cool."

Under any other situation, his wording would have made her suspicious; why would he want to know which ones she thought were cool? However, she had just learned that he was a man in his late twenties who hailed from America circa 1940's that read Captain America fanfiction in his spare time. Everything about him raised a series of questions whose answers weren't even worth it.

So she stood up and made her way into Nicky's room, feeling odd to enter knowing he wasn't there, and rummaged through the various blueprints, pulling out all the ones that she knew had the same measurements, stopping when she reached the ones she had first caught sight of during her first visit.

"He's got a lot!" she called out, trying not to fall as she balanced all of them in her arms, moving around wildly.

Rhett sighed when he caught sight of the hoard, helping her take half. "That's Nicky. Lots of ideas, but no use."

She frowned. "Well, that's...sad."

The man smiled at her sadly. "I won't tell you, but his childhood was less than ideal. He lived in his head, coming up with all these ideas, studying other people. He wanted to help. But, more importantly, he wanted to get away."

She stared at him. "He calls himself the hero of heroes, but who does he help? You're not an Avenger or a vigilante."

Rhett, who had crouched down to lay out the various pages, paused and glanced up. "He helps the ordinary people, Diana. The people who need help, not physically, but mentally. Emotionally. He's had been trying to rise up so he could help at S.H.I.E.L.D. or the Avengers compound, be the psychologist there and help them. But that fell through, so now he helps the citizens with their minds, and the heroes with their tech. Tony Stark doesn't have pull everywhere."

Diana sighed, thinking back to the new Spider-Man suit. "If only that were true."

Rhett snapped his fingers. "Come on, don't be down, we gotta finish these before you can get back to your homework." She nodded and crouched down, placing the prints in her arms next to his own.

"Hey," he said, catching her attention, "He helps the people he can in the ways he can. You can do the same, just...don't overdo it. You gotta learn how to pick your battles."

She hummed. "I've stayed back for every battle we've had. Now, I'm gonna make sure I pick all of them."

Rhett sighed. "You're gonna get yourself hurt."

She raised her head, looking him right in the eye. "When you're down, the only way is up."

º º º º º

Diana was still thinking about the blueprints when she went to school the next few days. She didn't say anything to Nicky, especially since he hadn't shown up, so she was left to wonder what she could ask him to make for her.

"Do you know where we are?" Harry whispered, nudging the two girls on either side of him.

Diana, who hadn't been paying attention, jolted into reality, shaking her head, flipping through the book in an effort to catch up in case she was called to read. Gwen, who had been highlighting and taking notes, rolled her eyes and whispered the page number, pushing her notebook towards them to copy.

"Is there a problem, Mr. Osborn?" Mrs. Hurst called out, drawing attention to the three teens' table.

"No, ma'am," he said, giving her his million dollar smile that had some girls swooning.

She laughed shortly. "Your charm won't work with me, Mr. Osborn. Now, can you tell me the significance of the third head's warning to Macbeth? What is your speculation on how that could end up working?"

"Um..." he stammered, glancing towards Gwen's notes, only to find nothing of use, "Well, um," he glanced down at his book, but couldn't make sense of the Old English.

Diana scanned over it quickly and raised her hand, dropping it when she was called on to relieve Harry. "It says that he will never be defeated until a forest is able to overtake the hill that he lives on. They cut down the boughs of the trees for cover when they go to seize the castle."

Mrs. Hurst nodded, eyebrows raised. "Have you read the play before, Ms. Smith?"

She nodded, unsure if she wanted to tell the class that Rhett had been the one to spoil the ending for her when she was doing homework. "I just sorta skipped to the end."

Some people snickered and Mrs. Hurst rolled her eyes. "I had so much faith in you, Diana," she joked, turning back to the board.

"She is really good at English, though," a voice mumbled. Everyone turned around to look at the speaker who most likely wasn't planning on being heard.

Diana turned as well, stomach lurching when she realized it was Peter who seemed ready to melt into the ground. He avoided eye contact with her, slowly going back to look at his book, his entire face and neck red.

"Well, that's a kind thing for you to say, Mr. Parker, though I'd appreciate it if you kept your flirting to lunch and break, thank you," Mrs. Hurst said, teasing just barely evident in her voice.

Everyone else in the class laughed and whispered to each other, the comment raising quite a storm, but Peter and Diana just stared at their tables, wanting nothing more than to jump out of the nearest window and leave.

"You okay?" Harry asked, nudging her before glancing back at Peter, mouthing the same question.

"Fine," she spat through gritted teeth, "And I don't think he's flirting, but what would I know?"

"Hey, don't be like that," he whispered, glancing up at the clock, "It's 2:30, just hold on for fifteen more minutes, then we're done with school for the day, okay?"

"Maybe you should talk to him," Gwen suggested, leaning forward to catch Diana's eye, "Flash has to talk to his teacher about extra credit, so you have a free window. After school."

She shook her head. "He doesn't want to talk to him."

Gwen huffed. "Well, it can't always be what he wants all the time. Same for you, it can't always be about you. Compromise is key to a healthy relationship."

"So is communication," Harry interjected.

"And you two aren't doing any of it," Gwen finished.

Diana scoffed. "There's no relationship to make healthy."

Harry and Gwen frowned, glancing at each other. "Friendship," Gwen pointed out, "is still a relationship. You have a relationship with us, Flash and Jesse, everyone."

Diana shrugged. "Okay, yeah, sure, I'll talk to him, whatever."

The two nodded in finality and turned back to the class which had been pulled back from its chaos and into order.

Diana already had her bag packed by 2:40, wanting to catch Peter before her small window of time disappeared.

When the bell rang, she stood up to walk towards his desk, everyone else still packing up, only to find he was already rushing out of the classroom.

She frowned and chased after him, going down the hallways which were just starting to fill with people.

"Peter!" she called out as he pushed open the doors. She squeezed through before she closed, watching as he ran down the steps, heading for the gate.

He hadn't heard her. She watched as he looked around before jumping up and over the large black gate towards the football field.

Her breath caught in her throat; since when could he do that? She watched as he ran down the field and out towards the city.

She felt herself get shoved and stumbled down the stairs, making way for the onslaught of students who had just missed Peter's circus trick.

She shook her head and walked back inside to get her things from her locker. Things were so much different than before.

º º º º º

She began to notice it more and more. Every day like clockwork, whether they leave during 3:00 or 2:45, Peter was out of school before everyone else with only a few exceptions. It was during the latter dismissals that she often couldn't catch him, but the former dismissals weren't any better.

"Have you guys even seen Peter around anymore?" Harry asked as he stepped away from Ned who informed him that he had to go run to his Stark internship.

"Nope. It's as if he's always at that internship," Gwen commented, "I mean, I love mine too, but there's a line. It's like it's taking over his life."

Diana sighed and pressed her forehead against the cool metal of her locker. "You have no idea."

"Have you been able to talk to him at all?" Gwen asked, coming to stand behind her.

"No," Diana sighed, "I'm worried. I think he's starting to slack on everything. He used to love school, but now he's not even paying attention anymore."

"He's still super smart, though," Harry pointed out, "You seen him in Physics? Just looks up from his paper and knows the answer."

"That's probably why Flash hates him so much," Diana said, pushing off her locker and out onto the hallway, "He works his butt off to prove that he can be smart, but he's still second to Peter who can sleep in class and still know the right answer."

"Flash doesn't hate Peter," Gwen said, not looking at them, "He hates that he can't be him. Your uncle, does he know Flash quit the football team?"

Diana froze. "Flash quit the football team?"

Gwen and Harry turned to stare at her, shocked. "You didn't know?"

"He didn't tell me!" she cried, a hand coming up to cover her mouth, "When did this happen? Oh God, Harrison is going to be—when, what did he say?"

"I-I think it's when you weren't at lunch with us," Harry said, looking up at the ceiling, "Yeah, because in the middle of his sentence, Flash stopped to watch Peter run out and wondered what was so important. Yeah, you weren't there, but I figured he'd tell you later that night."

"I didn't get home until really late," she sighed, "Remember, that was the day when he yelled at me in the hall? Yeah, I didn't really talk to him after that."

The two shook their heads and Harry clicked his tongue. "Well...talk to him about it. Man, you have a lot of people to talk to."

Diana thought back to Nicky who had been busy the past few days, nearing a week. "Yeah, I really do."

The three began walking down to the freshman hallway where Jesse was waiting for them surrounded by her large group of friends, most of whom were talking about some party she should go to.

As they neared the group, Diana heard some gasp. "The Spider-Man got hit by a car yesterday! He fell into a pile of trash!" A round of shocked gasps followed immediately by raucous laughter filled the hallway.

Her heart stopped. She dug out her phone, googling the news story, knees buckling as she found a video of exactly that. It didn't look too bad, the car just nicked him, but it was enough to send him flying.

She didn't wait for Jesse. She told her to head home with Flash, that she forgot she had a session that day and was going to be late. She sprinted all the way out of the school, not stopping until she was secure on the train headed for Brooklyn.

She knew what she needed Nicky to make.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

( 07.27.17 )

CLIFFHANGER! I was gonna keep going, but then decided against it, because then the chapter would be too long and it wouldn't have much detail towards the end and I wouldn't have a good ending point so...stay tuned until next chapter (which will probably come out tomorrow, let's be real)

The gif up top was made by my wonderful fren SinnofKnowledge whom you might see in the comments section if you read it as extensively as I do. If it's not loading up top here it is:

Do you guys like Rhett? I haven't written his story yet, but I'm learning more and more about his character through writing him here and I like combining this particular universe. Also, do you like how he's reading fanfiction about his soon-to-be boyfriend? Past Lives is gonna be fluffier than I expected.

I know that the reason Peter wants to have a mission is because the crime he fights is monotonous, but hey, some interesting things happen. Like muggers and cars. I have to bend the movie to fit the story, I'm sorry.

That's all I have to say so...thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!