JOHNNY ADDED DIANA ON SNAPCHAT LATER THAT NIGHT WHEN THEY WERE HEADING HOME AND JESSE SCREAMED. She went so far as to grab the blonde's phone, checking to make sure that it was, in fact, Johnny. It was confirmed by the Snapchat-verified flame emoji, something that Harry rolled his eyes at when he peered over her shoulder to look.

"Why were you guys eating pretzels in the bathtub again?" he asked, texting on his phone.

"It's a very long story," Diana sighed, "Though, I have to say, you have a great boyfriend."

Harry smiled proudly. "I know. He's kind of awful, but I think I'll keep him."

"If you screw up that relationship, I'm taking him," Flash called out from where he was furiously typing in a group chat, lying across the other side of the seats, his head in Gwen's lap, "He's mine."

Gwen laughed and ran a hand through his hair absentmindedly, because friends did this, it didn't mean anything. That's what she had texted Diana when Flash first put his head on her lap during the drive after the blonde sent her a series of question marks and eye emojis.

Diana raised a hand, nearly pressing her earring before remembering that Peter was asleep by that point. At least, she hoped he was asleep. Her heart lurched at the thought of him waiting by her window for help, bleeding out. She checked her phone and found no new messages from him. Maybe his phone had broken. She shouldn't have gone to the party.

"Breathe," Flash said, glancing up from his phone, "Go on."

She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, her eyes drooping. She rested her head against Harry's shoulder and closed her eyes. She was a teenager, she was allowed to have fun. Peter would be okay. She couldn't focus on her job all the time, there was a line. Peter knew that.

º º º º º

The next morning was a Sunday and Diana was relieved. She woke up in the afternoon, too tired from the party the night before. They had returned home past midnight of all things, Rosie having already gone to bed, too exhausted to stay awake and make sure her kids got home safe.

"I feel hungover, but I didn't drink," Flash groaned as he woke up, too tired to leave Diana's room before she woke herself.

"Did you drink anything the aliens offered you?" she asked, moving so her head was by the foot of her bed like his.

He nodded. "Yeah, I'm in a groupchat with a lot of them. They're pretty great, they just kept bringing us food and drinks and stuff."

She smirked. "Johnny said to be careful of that. You don't listen, do you?"

He scowled. "Shut up, they were nice. I'm gonna go to my room and sleep some more, you know what time it is?"

She shook her head and glanced towards the window which had been Peter and blood free when they had arrived. "I'd say early afternoon. You sure you want to sleep?"

He stood up, stretching widely. "You're right, I'll just sleep when I'm dead. Who needs a bed when you have a coffin in some cemetery, right?" He was still dead tired, she could tell.

His cemetery line sent reality crashing into her like a full frontal wave, shocking her back into the harsh realization: she hadn't gone to visit her parents once since she'd come back home. She scrambled to her feet, tripping and nearly falling on the ground, Flash catching her quickly.

"Jeez, where's the fire?" he demanded, watching as she stumbled to her closet, searching for something to wear.

"At the cemetery where my parents are," she snapped, throwing clothes to the side in pure teen movie panic.

"Oh," he breathed, wincing, "Yeah, you haven't visited them lately, have you?"

"Not since before I left!" she cried, turning around to lean against the flimsy plastic drawers that once squished a smiling Peter Parker with a wall. "It's September now."

"Hey," he said softly, moving to stand in front of her, "It's okay. Go on, go visit your parents. But look, they'll understand, you have a life, you just couldn't visit."

She frowned. "I stayed in bed for weeks, Flash. And-and it's not as if I just moved on or couldn't be bothered to see them-"

"I didn't say that," he said, voice still soft despite himself, "I'm just saying that they'll understand. Now go and get ready, but breathe, okay? Just breathe."

She sighed and glanced down at her feet. "You noticed me last night, huh?" There was a reason he was being so nice and understanding; he felt guilty.

He grimaced. "I couldn't move away from the group to help you. I'm sorry, I should've been there."

She shook her head. "You just couldn't. I understand." She smiled up at him slightly, using his own words against him.

He tried to smile. "Hey, you've got a lot to catch them up on, at least," he opened the door to her room, about to step out, "And I think it's good that you waited this long."

She frowned, tilting her head. "Why?"

He smirked. "'Cause you finally lost that stupid accent. Did you even notice?"

Her eyes widened and she raised her hand up to touch a necklace that wasn't there. "No, I didn't."

Flash was beaming so bright the sun seemed like a laser pointer with low battery. "Good."

º º º º º

from: Daisy (9:49 am)
Are you still thinking about
coming home?

Diana winced as she read Daisy's text, walking down the streets as she made her way towards the cemetery. She had been thinking about it more and more, and while it was a tempting prospect, there was too much pressure and anxiety when thinking about the consequences should she choose to go.

If she left she would lose everything. If she stayed, was there really anything she had?

to: Daisy (9:51 am)
Yeah I'm still thinking about it

She pocketed her phone and turned it on silent, not wanting to be bothered while she was visiting her parents. She pace began to slow as she caught sight of the familiar fence that surrounded the large area, her feet dragging against the cement.

She made her way towards the familiar gates, stopping in front of them and staring up. It had been so long since she had been here. She was having a hard time remembering what she had even said to them before Peter showed up afterwards.

She couldn't even remembering losing the accent she had adopted for those three months. What else had she forgotten? This was beginning to become too much and she could already feel herself beginning to cry.

She quickly made her way towards the familiar graves, her chest constricting tightly as she realized she had forgotten to buy flowers. She sighed and dropped to her knees, staring at the two headstones.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered, tears falling freely from her eyes, her throat closed up, "I screwed up everything. I forgot and I just-everything is so different and I don't know what to do and if you were here, none of this would be happening."

She had already thought about this. She didn't need a repeat.

waSo she talked about everything instead. She talked about what happened in London, what happened when she came home, about Peter, about Flash, everything. She told them about Harrison and Rosie, about Jesse. She told them about everything that occurred because it was easier than talking about things that may or may not. The maybes weren't going to help her there.

"I feel so alone," she sobbed, gasping for breath, "No one-I just-"

She groaned and sat down on the ground, pulling her knees up to her chest and dropping her head onto her legs. She just needed someone to hold her. She had forgotten the sound of their voices and the feel of their hugs and she just needed to be held.

Her arm trapped her earring between her leg and the audio buzzed to life.

"-I just feel like I could be doing more. You always told me with great power comes great responsibility, but I don't think they're giving me enough. I feel like I could be doing more, like I had been in Germany. Remember, I told you?"

A sigh. "I'm talking as if you're here because Diana said it would help and it does, but this feels stupid. Because I don't just need to talk, I need you here. I-We need you back. May, she-she misses you a lot. A whole lot."

Diana turned her head slowly to find Peter standing a ways away, hovering over a grave. His uncle's grave. She didn't notice him there and she guessed he hadn't noticed her either.

A sharp gasp. "Shit, she's here. Okay, I'm just gonna ignore her and keep talking to you because she's probably here for her parents even though she's looking at me. But I don't have anything else to say, Ben, because I need you here to talk. I-I'm so alone."

She turned away, sighing. So he felt alone too. He could join the club. The Lonely Hearts Club. She shook the thought away quickly, scowling. She shouldn't be thinking about him, her life didn't-shouldn't-revolve around him.

"Mom, dad," she breathed, "You guys always told me not to change for a boy, right? If he didn't like me for who I was, then he wasn't worth it, right? I should still listen to that. I will." But if he changed and she didn't like the way he was now, was she essentially wanting him to change for her?

"I don't know," she said, finally, "Nicky was right, I need to find something for myself. But I can't think of anything. Maybe I should just focus on getting better, that way I'll know. What do you think?"

The graves said nothing back.

She smiled sadly. "Thanks."

º º º º º

Monday passed by in a flurry of eavesdropping and hastily finishing up homework. Diana and Harry rushed during lunch while Gwen and Flash enjoyed their free time, chatting and talking about interesting things they had seen online.

"Do you want help?" Flash asked, leaning against Diana's arm, stopping her from writing.

"I need you to get off before I scream," Diana snapped, tearing her arm away from him, "Go bother Jesse."

Flash snorted. "I think you meant to say that the other way around, Jesse never shuts up whereas I-"

"Never shut up?" Gwen and Harry chorused, glancing up from their work briefly before looking back down.

Diana laughed as Flash deflated, struggling to come up with a decent argument and defend his dignity. Jesse was at another table with her large group of friends and Diana could hear her voice from the other side of the room. It wasn't disrupting, rather it was enticing. It made someone want to go talk to her because of the way she sounded, so open, so friendly.

She should ask for lessons. However, she was panicking by that point and decided to put it off for another day. That's what she did every day, it seemed.

Monday ended normally enough, Diana checking in on Peter's patrol in the afternoon, as well as in the night, just in case he stayed out late. He hadn't on Monday as nothing interesting had happened during the afternoon. The fact that he was upset about that worried her; sure, he could like his job, but like doctors, he shouldn't want people to get hurt so he could help.

It wasn't any different on Tuesday. Diana and Jesse road Flash's car to school, the wind blowing in their hair.

"What's up, Penis Parker?" Flash called out as they nearly hit the boy who quickly ran to the other side of the road.

"Sorry, Peter!" Diana called out, smacking Flash's arm, "Would you quit it?" She hadn't stood up for Peter before, but she vowed to stand up for a change and this was no exception.

He rolled his eyes. "Why are you so nice to him? Remember what happened? Parker can suck my-"

"Finish that sentence and I will crash this car," Diana threatened, glaring at him. His eyes widened and he glanced at her in terror and confusion. Harrison had gotten him the car as a way of trying to buy his love, he would be murdered if it was destroyed.

"I hate to say it, Diana, but I agree with Flash," Jesse said, leaning forward as they parked, "Parker hurt you, why are you being nice to him? He doesn't deserve it."

She frowned. It was true, Peter had hurt her and it still hurt to think about it at times. But they were friends and as his friend, she had to make sure that he was okay. She didn't just want to stay on the sidelines, she wanted to stop the war before it started.

"Whatever," Flash scoffed, climbing out of the car.

She sighed and followed him out. That was as close as she was going to get to an agreement with him, so she would take what she got. Hopefully, he would actually listen to her this time.

º º º º º

For the first time since she had been able to use them, Diana didn't listen to Peter's escapades after school. Instead, she chose to play Monopoly with Jesse and Flash, who tended to get too competitive. Rosie was watching on the side, not wanting to play after the last time.

"Jesse, I swear, if you get that green, I will murder your entire family," Flash threatened, staring dead-eyed at the last bit of green land he needed, Jesse eyeing it as well, though it was neither sibling's turn.

Diana giggled to herself as she rolled the dice. Six. Her eyes widened as she moved her character piece closer and closer to the green rectangle. She set it down on the space and stared at it for a few moments.

"Diana..." Jesse whispered.

"Don't you dare," Flash hissed.

With a grin, Diana grabbed one of her housing pieces, handed the money to Rosie, the banker, and took the lot card, placing the housing piece on the green rectangle, leaning back smugly.

Rosie laughed quietly, whispering under her breath. "They're going to kill you..."

Diana glanced between the two siblings who were sharing a look over the board game, eyes darting over to her every few seconds. She slowly stopped smiling, getting a sinking feeling that they weren't going to let her leave without payback for stealing their spot. It felt a lot like a turf war.

"Guys..." she started, backing away slowly, "We're all friends here, right?"

Then came the smiles. Matching smiles that reminded her of feral cats, then suddenly Flash was shouting and she barely had time to scream before she was getting tackled, getting hit in the face by the throw pillows they had grabbed from the couch.

"No fair!" she shrieked, trying to cover her face, "No fair!"

"Life isn't fair!" Flash shouted, laughing, only to be hit by Jesse who had grabbed another pillow. "Traitor!"

Before Jesse could continue her assault, Diana grabbed her extra pillow and whacked her in the face, jumping back with a shriek before she could get hit, trying to get back at Flash, only to be thrown back by another hit to the face.

So they went on like that. Every man-or woman-for themselves, Diana trying to fight off two very angry Thompsons who weren't only hellbent on getting her, but also each other. It was a bloodbath, but it was hard to take seriously when Jesse kept falling over every few minutes because she was laughing too much, giving Flash and Diana enough time to ambush her.

Rosie watched, laughing, as all three of her children wrestled on the floor of the living room, not even caring what the neighbors would say because her kids were happy and that was all that mattered. There were tears in her eyes and they weren't just from laughing, but she would pretend they were because she didn't want them to know how conflicted she felt about everything, how painful it was to look at any of the three because it reminded her of all the ways she went wrong.

The kids finished their pillow fight some time later, after they had worn themselves out and were just piled on top of each other, tired and sleepy.

"Okay, bed time," Rosie said, ushering them all off to the hallway, wiping at her eyes.

"Are you okay, Aunt Rosie?" Diana asked as she neared her room. Aunt, not godmother; not mom yet, though.

"Yeah, honey, I'm fine," the woman whispered, "I'm happy you're home."

Diana gave her a tight smile. "I'm happy to be home." It wasn't a complete lie.

Rosie smiled and disappeared into her room without another word, leaving Diana alone in the hallway. She quickly opened her door and slid inside, closing it behind her.

She raised an eyebrow when she saw her phone lighting up on her bed; who was calling her this late? She crossed the short distance towards it, heart lurching when she realized it was from Peter.

She answered immediately. "What happened, are you okay?"

"No, not really!" he hissed, "I'm so screwed, Diana!"

"What happened?" she repeated, heart pounding violently; she hadn't been by her phone, he was hurt and this was her fault.

"Okay, so," he began in a frenzy, "I went to go stop these ATM robbers and they had these really high tech weapons then they destroyed Mr. Delmar's Deli, then I tried to call Mr. Stark, but Happy wouldn't listen to me and wouldn't let me talk to him, then I got home and Ned was in my room and he found out I was Spider-Man and-"

"Ned found out?" she shrieked, clasping a hand over her mouth, "What happened, is he gonna spill, what're you gonna do?"

"I don't know!" he cried, "This is a disaster! He wasn't supposed to find out and he wants to tell anyone, but I made him swear not to because May can't know and I'm freaking out because there are robbers with high tech weapons and my best friend found out my secret."

She paused. "Well, you were pretty bad at hiding it from me in the alleyway." She laughed to herself, trying to lighten the mood.

"Are you really gonna pull that on me now?" he growled, "I'm not laughing, Diana, I'm freaking out!"

"Okay, okay," she said, trying to sound as reassuring as she could, "Look, you'll be fine. He swore, you just have to really let him know. As for the ATM, I'm sure that Happy gave your message to Stark. You said he was a bit scary, maybe he was just trying intimidate you."

Peter groaned. "Yeah, I guess. I'm still freaking out, though, I'm so stressed."

She hummed, glancing at the earrings on her desk. "Tell me about it."

He sighed heavily. "You know what I need right now?" She made a noise, telling him to continue. "I really need a hug. Like, one of those holding type hugs where you don't do any work."

She licked her lips. "Yeah. Yeah, honestly, I could use one of those too."

A pause. "I could come over...friends hug, right? We could just-"

"No, I really don't think that's a good idea," she sighed. As much as she wanted to, she didn't want to let her emotions get played with like this. "Sorry."

"N-no, I get it, it's alright," he mumbled on the other line, "But if you want to..."

"Okay, Peter." She wouldn't be calling him. Ever. Not for something like that. "Just try to get some rest, okay? You'll feel better in the morning."

"I don't know if I can," he whined, a creak in the background indicating that he had just fallen onto his bed.

"Just try," she pushed, "If you can't fall asleep in two hours, call me again and we can figure something out, okay?"

"Okay. Thanks, Diana."

"Sure, Peter."

º º º º º

Her phone rang exactly two hours later. She had just been about to doze off when the light shocked her awake, her nerves singing after being woken up from such a light sleep. She fumbled with it, placing it against her ear shakily.

"Peter?" she said, trying not to sound too tired.

"Couldn't sleep," he mumbled, sound as wide awake as ever. Not energetic, just awake.

She hummed. "You wanna talk until you fall asleep?" That was something she and Flash used to do when they were younger, though it never worked with them. Maybe it would with Peter, he did tend to talk a lot during the nights; or maybe that was just him as Spider-Man.

"Could we?" he asked, shyly. She could almost see him hiding his face in his pillow, looking up at the ceiling hopefully.

"Sure," she whispered, smiling, "Wanna hear about these people I saw at the station?"

"Yeah," he replied with quiet enthusiasm. She heard him shift on his bed, the mattress creaking.

She began telling him about the dancers and the singers and the violinists that she had watched, all of them talented beyond belief. He told her about a man on a corner painting hats who accidentally painted a child's face. She told him about Rhett and Nicky's weird painting by the ceiling that didn't belong to them, but was just a part of the apartment. He told her about the group of people in an apartment complex who were all shouting nonsense at each other with one trying to break into his own car.

Their conversations soon became increasingly incoherent and sleep began to take over, Diana sometimes repeating her sentences over and over and over until she realized what she was doing, only to have Peter try and fail to tell her another story.

It was around four o'clock when the two finally fell asleep, barely awake as they mumbled their goodbyes, not hanging up their phones.

"Thanks, doc."

"Sure, Bugs."

AUTHOR'S NOTE

( 08.01.17 )

Yeah, I went there (they called each other the nicknames because they forgot they don't call each other that anymore so they're not actually doc and bugs again)...I only planned part of this chapter and I'm actually pretty happy with how it came out, I almost went a completely different route, but I'm glad I went with this happier one instead of  the sadder one.

You like how I quoted Chris Evans about Chris Pratt when Flash was talking about Johnny? You also like my mention to Peter's first "hey doc" of this story during Diana's search for clothes? Also like how I had to mention Diana's accent because I completely forgot it existed until now? Also her parallels with Peter's short term consequence thought a la Mr. Delmar's Deli?

I actually reused a part of the first version of Lonely Hearts, I'm not sure if I published the chapter, but it was nice to put the old words to use, you know?

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