IT WAS TIME TO LEAVE FOR DECATHLON AND DIANA FELT OUT OF PLACE AMONGST THE YELLOW BLAZER-CLAD TEAM. She had decided to wait with Flash until it was time to leave, not wanting to wait for a still angry Jesse out front until Rosie showed up with their car. She was leaning towards the back talking with Flash, standing next to the girl that had gotten toast from the party—Diana tried to remember her name, but only came up with Mary, which didn't sound right.

"So, yeah, um..." Flash mumbled, trailing off towards the end, having nothing to say.

"Yeah, so like, it was..." she replied, not knowing how to end.

The two hadn't been talking about anything in particular, just making idle conversations starters, waiting for the other to say anything of substance. Ever since the events of that night, the two hadn't been able to have any real conversation, Gwen and Harry knowing better to leave well enough alone.

"Yeah..." the two finished lamely, just looking at each other, their height difference not as apparent with their slumped shoulders.

"Is this how the two of you make conversation?" the girl from the party asked, not looking up from where she was reading a large book atop a large stack of similarly sized books.

"No, we just..." Diana began, "We don't know."

Before the girl could make any form of response, Abraham spoke up, calling out, "Hey, it's Peter!"

"Peter?" Diana and Liz chorused, the former moving forward to try and get a better look at the boy.

"Yeah, I was hoping, maybe, I could rejoin the team," he said, glancing around, breathless. Diana's hands instinctively went up to her earrings which she hadn't activated in the past couple of days. What had she missed?

"No, no way," Flash said, pushing Diana towards the back of the bus, trying to keep her out of Peter's line of sight, "You can't just quit on us, stroll up, and be welcomed back by everyone."

There was something about the way he said that which let Diana know he was talking about more than just Peter quitting decathlon. Her stomach clenched tightly and she tried to look away, biting her lip.

"Hey, welcome back, Peter!" Mr. Harrington greeted, stepping out from the inside of the bus, "Flash, you're back to first alternate."

"What?" Flash said, Diana chorusing in the background; how was that fair, Peter hadn't been to any of the recent meetings, he had left them floundering.

"He's taking your place," Abraham joked, the others in the team giggling. The girl from the party stepped forward to ask about leaving, wanting to get in some light protesting at the embassy, something that reminded Diana of Jesse.

As everyone filed into the bus at Mr. Harrington's cue, Flash threw Peter his blazer, moving towards Diana who had moved out from her hiding place. Flash glanced over his shoulder, glowering at Peter who was looking at the two of them with wide eyes as he waited to climb in.

Flash placed a hand on the bus, blocking Diana's view of the boy with his arm. "You gonna be okay? I know Jesse's pretty pissed with you and mom's probably gonna say some bullshit about me."

"Yeah, I'll be fine," she breathed, "Flash, I'm sorry about what just happened, that wasn't fair. I-I mean, Peter completely dropped you guys, he shouldn't just be given first chair, where's the morals in that?"

Flash smiled tightly. "It's like dad said, I'm always gonna be second to Parker."

"Flash..." she whispered, watching as he walked towards the bus door.

"Text me, I don't wanna be bored. I'll see you there, 'kay?" he called out, jumping in and finding a seat.

Mr. Harrington poked his head out to look at her. "You wanna ride with us, Diana, Mrs. Thompson already informed me that you and the family will be going down for the weekend as well."

Diana glanced towards the windows of the bus. If she rode with them she'd have the opportunity to ask Peter what he's planning as well as keep the peace between him and Flash. She'd also be able to talk to Liz whom she hadn't spoken to since she pretty much ruined her party.

She shook her head. "No, thanks, Mr. Harrington, I'm good. Thank you, though."

"Alright," he said, "But if you change your mind, I can have Flash text you when we hit one of our rest stops and you can hop in, okay?"

She nodded, smiling. "Yeah, alright. Thanks."

"Sure. Ride safe."

"You too."

With that, the bus roared to life and Diana moved to the side to avoid the fumes. She watched as it inched away, walking towards Jesse who was waiting by the door to the school, eyes glued to her phone.

"Mom's here," she said, not looking up at her.

"Jesse," Diana said, "I'm sorry."

The younger girl raised her head up to look at her. "What makes Flash more important than me?"

Diana gripped her shoulders, feeling her throat begin to close. She didn't mean for this to happen. She was supposed to keep everyone safe, Jesse included.

"He's not. I just didn't realize. I'm sorry."

Jesse turned away. "Okay. Let's go."

º º º º º

The ride down was the most painful four hours of Diana's life. It took Jesse about an hour to finally forgive her and start a game of UNO, only to give up after a surprise lurch caused the cards to go flying everywhere. Rosie seemed to be tense the entire time, her mind obviously occupied with other things.

"I still can't believe Flash would disrespect his father like that," she scoffed at one point, "I expected better of him."

Diana glanced over at Jesse whose hands were balled into tight fists. Rosie had always taken Harrison's sides during times like this and it always baffled Diana at how she was able to. Nicky explained that Rosie had it difficult too, the toxic relationship clouding her judgement, but it was still hard to stomach at times.

She tried not to think back to the time when Rosie and Flash got into one of their biggest arguments which took place a few weeks after Harrison's arrest. Unfortunately, it came back like a tidal wave.

○ ○ ○

"I hate him," Flash mumbled, staring hard at his plate. Rosie had made some comment about Harrison's trial, hoping that he would get out soon.

"What?" Rosie demanded, her voice as quiet as her son's.

"I hate him," Flash said, much louder, his eyes blazing, "I hate him!"

"Eugene Thompson, how dare you say that, he's your father—" Rosie shrieked, rising to her feet.

"How can you love him? How could you brainwash me and Jesse into loving him when he beat us every night!" Flash screamed, motioning wildly with his arms, his shouts echoing off the walls.

"He is your father—" Rosie repeated.

"How could you let him hit us?" Flash demanded, "Don't you care? We're your kids and you let him throw Jesse into a table! He's a disgusting monster and you think he loves you? He doesn't love anyone! How could you let him do this to us—How could you do this to us?"

Rosie slammed her hands on the table, causing Flash and Jesse to jump in fear, Diana startling in her seat as well. Rosie never acted out violently with any of them, but Harrison still had a tight grip on all of them.

"I am not going to sit here and listen to you badmouth the man I married," Rosie shouted, her voice shaking, "He had a rough childhood. You can tell yourself whatever you want but I was there, Eugene. It was your fault. You can't just talk to your father that way."

Flash backed away slowly, his slow laughter quickly growing hysterical. "It was my fault? My fault? So, what, I deserved it? Just because I told him not to talk down to me, I deserved to let that drunk hit me?"

"Don't call your father that—" Rosie warned.

"Shut up!" Flash screamed, "I don't want to hear it anymore! He's gone now! Gone forever and I never want him back!"

"Don't say things like that—"

"You don't get to tell me anything!" he cried, "Not after you let him hit Jesse. Never! I hate him and I hate you!"

Rosie sobbed. "Flash, wait—"

"No!" He ran into his room and slammed the door so hard that pictures in the hall fell to the ground and the tables rattled.

That night was the first night Flash admitted to hating his father. Never before had he uttered the words aloud. After all. It was his father they were talking about.

○ ○ ○

Diana remembered that night well. Flash had acted out the morning after. It was so bad that he had to be restrained to keep from completely destroying Peter's face. Diana threw up that day from all the stress and Flash broke his hand punching the bathroom mirror. Because in that mirror he saw his father; he continued the cycle instead of stopping it, because, like Harrison said, Flash was weak.

Even though Harrison left, he still had control over the entire family. Just when they were starting to get better, he decided to come back. Flash hadn't been surprised, though. He knew he would never be free from the man.

"We're trying to relax, mom," Jesse muttered, pulling out her earbuds, "Don't start."

Rosie, instead of arguing, just made a sound in the back of her throat and continued driving.

Diana grimaced and pulled out her own headphones, pressing her earrings as she pretended to find music on her phone. Maybe Peter was talking to Ned about their plan and she would have some idea on what he was planning.

"—yes, Flash, you can play music while we work," Liz sighed, her voice quiet, "Just please play music we'll all like."

"Yes!" Flash cheered, his voice also quiet, "Okay, here, there's this Spotify playlist. You won't know the songs, Parker, it's an entire playlist dedicated to you not being around."

Diana's heart dropped to her feet. He wouldn't. He wouldn't dare.

Then she heard the unmistakable sound of Taylor Swift's Story of Us and she grabbed Jesse's car pillow, shoving it into her face and shrieking. She ignored Rosie's demands to know if she was okay because it was obvious she wasn't.

Flash Thompson was a terrible person.

She ripped her phone out of her pocket, dialing his number and shoving it against her ear. She sighed as the sounds of Taylor Swift changed into Flash's obnoxious ringtone. He groaned and some people tittered in the background. Peter sighed heavily and she groaned.

Flash answered a moment later. "Hey, Dina, what's u—"

"Don't play my Spotify playlist," she spat.

A pause. "How'd you know I was playing it?"

Her eyes widened and she forced herself to make a squeal of protest. "Damn it! You already did—Why would you do that?"

"How did you know I was?" His voice echoed as she could hear him on both her earring receivers and her phone receiver.

"I didn't! I just know you listen to music and I don't want you touching it, but I guess it's too late now!"

"You put them on public."

"Doesn't mean you should touch them! That's like saying 'there's a person on the street, that means I can punch them'!"

"Diana, please, everyone can hear you—"

"Good! I don't want you playing my music or bothering Peter. Got it?"

No response.

"Eugene Thompson."

"Fine, fine, okay."

She hung up immediately, dropping her phone next to her and sighing. Peter hadn't made any comment and she almost wondered if the tracker had somehow stopped working. Nicky hadn't explained how it worked and how she was able to hear others around him; apparently, he had to combine various different aspects of various different prototypes and the fact that the tracker worked still continued to shock him. So she decided not to ask him to explain how it worked.

She sighed and closed her eyes, listening to the sound of Peter answering Liz's questions and talking to Ned. There was the occasional jab from Flash and the occasional jab from Abraham towards Flash, but there was nothing in particular that peaked her interest.

She was just about to turn off her earrings when she heard Peter's phone ring. She listened as he asked Liz to take the call.

"Hello?"

"I got a blip on my screen here, you left New York?" Diana didn't recognize the voice, though it sounded like an adult. She vaguely wondered if it was Nicky who had also been tracking Peter as a failsafe for her.

"Tracker," Peter mumbled to himself. Diana's stomach lurched and she tapped her foot against the car floor.

"Uh, yeah, no, it's just a school trip," Peter said, this time louder, probably into the phone, "It's, uh, it's nothing—Look, Happy," so he was talking to that man he was always texting when trying to get to Tony Stark, "I gotta say, you tracking me without my permission is a complete violation of my privacy."

He had no idea.

"That's different," he hissed softly. She perked up. What's different?

Happy asked the same thing, to which Peter replied, "Ah, nothing, look, it's just the academic decathlon, it's no big deal."

"Hey, I'll decide if it's no big deal." Diana raised an eyebrow. "It sounds like it's no big deal. But remember, I'm watching you."

Him and her both. For reasons more similar than she believed.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

( 08.05.17 )

So, this was slightly filler, but I mean, Diana doesn't know what Peter's planning, not completely, at least. Also, it showed a lot more of Flash and Jesse.

Okay, so, Rosie's line about it being Flash's fault is a direct quote from Venom Vol. 2 #22, though the context is much different here than it is in the comic. Since it was short, I didn't put a warning up top, but if you think I should, please tell me and I will immediately.

Okay, you guys, Jesse is a young teenager who was abused by her father, forgive her if she's upset at Diana for not paying attention to all the times she practically begged her to stay with her so she wouldn't be alone with her father. She is completely validated. ALSO! Yeah, she forgave Diana quickly after, but it's one of those "look, I'm not angry at you now, but i'm not letting this slide" sort of things. Jesse is a complex character, please do not hate her because SHE IS AN ABUSE VICTIM YOU GUYS OMIGOD.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!