IF YOU WERE TO ASK HER TO SUM UP THE NEXT FEW WEEKS, DIANA WOULDN'T HAVE KNOWN WHAT TO TELL YOU. IT ALL STARTED WHEN A MASKED HERO STARTED TRENDING ON YOUTUBE. She hadn't been keeping up with the latest trends, so she didn't actually learn until the Monday back at school. She didn't notice it, really, until she realized that everyone was talking about "that guy from that video." Then, she started to ask questions.

"What guy?" she asked Flash as they stood in line, her paying for lunch this time.

Flash could barely speak, he was so excited. "Remember that huge contest that was all over the news about the cash prize for the person that could last three minutes in the ring with Crusher Hogan?"

"The wrestler?" she asked, grabbing bottles of water for both her and Flash.

"Yeah," he said, "So someone was taping the fight and some guy in a suit. Well, more like a hoodie and a mask, and he didn't even need three minutes, he crushed him in a minute and a half. Completely knocked out! Just a guy in a hoodie and a mask and he did it! Do you know how amazing that is?"

Diana stared at him, barely glancing as she exchanged the money. She had never seen Flash this excited about anything, not even football. It was almost scary to see him, yet she was happy that he was happy about something positive.

"He sounds awesome," she said as they made their way to their table, "You wanna show me the video?"

He stopped in his tracks, balancing his tray on one hand to jerk his thumb towards another table. "Sorry, uh, I'm sitting with the guys again. Sally really wants me to, you know?"

Diana glanced back towards Gwen and Harry who were watching them intently, Gwen looking pleadingly at Flash who wasn't paying attention. She turned back around, biting her lip. "Are you sure?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I mean, I don't sit with them often. You guys'll be fine. Watch the video with Gwen and Harry, they're really into him too. See ya." With that, he turned and left, calling out to his friends, asking if they've seen the video.

Diana turned back around slowly, bracing herself. Her heart broke as she watched Gwen's body almost fall over, her shoulders drooping so much. She looked nearly devastated, staring at the back of Flash's head.

"I kinda miss him," Gwen said, using her straw to stir her coffee, "We don't talk at all anymore. He partnered up with Tiny and Sally instead of me during our lab during E period. He never does that."

Diana reached over and squeezed her hand. "I'm sorry, Gwen. He gets like this sometimes, he'll come back." She knew deep down that she was wrong. Truth be told, Flash had never had other friends besides the ones he was sitting with at another table, Gwen and Harry had come as a huge surprise.

She smiled. "Thanks. Hey, have you seen the Spider-Man video?"

"The Spider-Man?" Diana asked, glancing over at Harry, "I didn't know he had a name."

"They just put it on the news," Gwen explained, "The video went viral and they tagged him as the Spider-Man, so that's who he is now. Have you see him?"

Diana shook her head and laughed when the two rushed over to her side of the table, Harry pulling out his phone and opening up the video.

º º º º º

The week after that, the Spider-Man had stopped a daytime carjack and saved a family of four from colliding into a bus.

"He's amazing!" Flash gushed in class, just after their teacher had asked what the big fuss with this internet sensation was, "Just wherever, whenever, he's there to save people! He's incredible! Don't listen to what that hag Jameson says, the Spider-Man is a hero."

"Carefully, Sally," Gwen called out from where she sat next to Harry, "Looks like you've got some competition."

Sally turned around to scowl at Gwen, throwing her legs up onto the empty chair next to her. "Jealous, Gwen?"

The smaller girl crossed her arms and glared. "Bite me."

Diana sighed and turned, shaking her head at her friend, looking over at Harry who had already started rubbing circles into her back, whispering quietly. She looked over at Flash who had stopped talking to watch the scene, biting his lip. He looked directly at her and shrugged. She didn't even blink.

She turned back to Sally, raising an eyebrow at the empty seat next to her. That was where Cindy usually sat. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't seen the girl much since the field trip. Or even at all.

"Have you guys seen Cindy recently?" she asked, turning back to Gwen and Harry. The two shook their heads, frowning as they realized that they hadn't seen the girl at all. She turned back around, worrying on her lip. "Strange. Very, very strange."

º º º º º

Then it all went to hell.

Over the weekend the Spider-Man let a robber pass him by, ignoring a cop who called for him to help stop the man, but ignored him. The robber got away and ended up murdering a man.

Benjamin Parker. Peter Parker's uncle.

It was all over the news, even Diana saw it right away. It was as if dark cloud had come over the school hallways, everyone stood to the side as Peter stepped onto campus.

People tried offering condolences, but the boy didn't even seem to notice. His eyes were glassy and his footsteps slow and robotic, as if he were going through the motions, his mind elsewhere.

J. Jonah Jameson had had a field day slandering the Spider-Man's name even more, calling him a menace, saying that he let an innocent man get murdered. They had discussed the ethics of the Spider-Man's actions that day in class—multiple classes—and in every single one, Peter Parker broke down crying.

"Peter," Diana whispered, rushing to his side in Geometry, trying to pull him to his feet, "Peter, come on, let's get you outside. Come on. Let's go."

She pulled him outside of the classroom, silencing protests with a single, hard stare; she knew what he was going through, she could help. She sat him just outside the door since he wasn't helping her by using his own feet. His glasses were pushed to the top of his head and his eyes were red.

"Leave me alone," he sniffed, rubbing his eyes with the sleeve of his sweater.

"Peter," she whispered, shaking her head. She didn't know what to say. She had nothing to say, nothing that would actually say something.

He took a deep breath. "Is this what you felt? A-after The Incident?"

She was barely breathing. "What do you feel?"

He motioned to his chest, opening and closing his mouth. He licked his lips, still gesturing to his chest. Then he motioned to his entire body, then to his head, then back to his chest. He circled his arms around himself and continued to cry.

"Peter," she whispered, carefully reaching out and placing her arms around him. He practically flew into the touch, sobbing into her shoulder. She tightened her grip and rubbed his back, whispering. "Shh, shh. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

He swallowed thickly. "I killed him."

She shook her head. "No. No, Peter, there's nothing you could have done."

He shook his head. "No, no, I could've been there. I-I should've been there. I could've-could've."

"Done what?" she asked, "What could you have done, Peter? Thrown yourself in front, risked your life? There's nothing you could have done, don't blame yourself."

He gripped her arms, shaking his head. He started to argue, but just cried harder, his entire body shaking, wracked with sobs.

"I miss him," he choked, "I want him back. I keep waking up and he's supposed to be there, but he's not and Aunt May keeps crying and I—"

"Shh," she whispered, "I know. I know, I know."

"Does it stop?" he asked, face still hidden in her shoulder.

"Does what stop?" she asked, pulled away to see his face.

He looked up at her and motioned to his chest. "Does it stop?"

She sighed and motioned to her own chest, opening and closing her fist. "Yes. And no. But you're you and I'm me. It still hurts, but not all the time."

He sniffed. "It's been five years."

She nodded, swallowing. "Yup. But you're not me, Peter. You have your aunt, she's still with you."

He rubbed his fingers over the fabric of her sweater, his hands still on her arms. "I just want him back." He looked so small, so fragile. So tired.

"I know you do," she said, reaching out and brushing back the strands of hair that stuck to his forehead, "I know."

"Can-can you-?" he held his arms out for a hug, not quite looking at her.

Her heart broke. She knew the feeling. The feeling of just needing to be held by someone other than your aunt. She had looked for it in Flash who was more than willing to help.

She pulled him into a hug, sighing. "Peter, I need you to remember this, if you ever need anything. Any help, anyone to talk to, anything at all, call me. Drop by the apartment if you need to, but please call me, do not do things on your own."

He sighed into her shoulder. "I don't know if I can do that."

"Peter," she said, gripping the back of his sweater, "Promise me."

He sighed again, burying his face into the crook of her neck. "Okay. Yeah, I promise."

º º º º º

It was the end of the day and everyone had seen J. Jonah Jameson's news broadcasts and articles declaring the Spider-Man as a public menace enough times to almost quote it.

"That guy is such an asshole," Flash groaned as they walked towards their lockers, "Like, the guy is a new hero, he's gonna make a few mistakes, everyone does, we're human. I know there's a level of responsibility, but people learn."

Diana nodded along, slowly as they neared Peter's locker. He seemed to have a bubble surrounding him, people were edging to get in, but no one dared breach it.

Except, of course, Flash.

"I'm gonna go talk to him, offer condolences," he said, motioning for Diana to move without him. She tried to stop him, but he held up a hand. "I don't want him to feel alone for this, Diana, I saw what happened with you."

She dropped her hands, watching nervously, her heart pounding rapidly. She watched as Flash approached Peter carefully, his hands out in front of him.

"Hey, Peter," he said softly.

Everyone jumped as Peter grabbed Flash by the front of his jacket and shoved him into the lockers. He was breathing heavily, glaring up at the boy he had pinned down. Flash's eyes were filled with fear.

"Hey, hey," he said, breathing deeply, "I'm sorry. I'm not gonna bother you, I swear, I just-I just wanted to say I'm sorry. About what happened to your uncle, no one deserves that, no one deserves to lose someone, you didn't deserve that, your uncle didn't, I'm sorry."

Peter barely loosened his grip. He looked down, swallowing. "Spider-Man wasn't there to stop him."

Flash carefully reached up and placed his hands on the ones pinning him in place. "He made a mistake. We all do. I'm sorry he wasn't there and you probably hate him, but he makes mistakes. D-doesn't mean he can't try to get back up and try to do the right thing next time."

Diana had a feeling that he wasn't just talking about the Spider-Man anymore. Maybe he wasn't even just talking about himself.

Peter looked up at Flash, narrowing his eyes. "You believe that? You believe that he can do better, even after this?"

Flash nodded. "Everyone screws up, that's how we learn, that's life. We just-we just gotta learn and try harder, try to be better. He's a hero and he screwed up, but he has a good heart, I-I can tell, you know?"

Peter just stared at him. He probably didn't believe Flash and Diana didn't blame him, the boy had bullied him and was talking about having a good heart, it's hard to believe. She didn't know what was running through his head, but she wouldn't be surprised if it was that.

Peter let go, letting the other boy slide to the ground. Flash rose to his feet. "I'm sorry for your loss, Peter."

Peter nodded, rubbing his eyes. "Thank you, Flash."

Flash glanced over and caught Diana watching. He looked back to the taller boy. "Do you want a hug?"

Peter dropped his hand, eyes widening. He stared down at Flash, shocked, but the boy just stared back up, unwavering. Peter turned and saw Diana who shrugged; she wasn't surprised, just taken aback.

Peter nodded and wrapped his arms around Flash, dropping his head onto his shoulder. Diana pulled out her phone and took a picture. She shouldn't have. It was uncalled for. But in that moment, two suffering boys found solace in each other and she knew she'd probably need it when one of them decides that they're an awful human being. Again.

"I'm sorry, man," Flash said, pulling away, "I'm sorry."

Peter just nodded and went back to his locker. With one last look, Flash went back to Diana, frowning when he caught sight of the picture.

"Why?" he asked, pointing to her phone.

She glanced up. "You two blame yourselves too much. I'm never deleting this."

He glanced up from the phone as well. He smiled. "I hope you never do."

º º º º º

They found Gwen in the midst of a fight when they stepped out into the courtyard.

"Gwen!" Flash shouted, shoving his way into the center, "Gwen, get off of her! Gwen!" He helped Harry break apart the fight, though the boy's face was already bleeding from a nasty scratch on his cheek.

Diana struggled to see what was happening, shouting for Flash to help Gwen. She never got into fights, she was the police captain's golden child, she wouldn't just do something like that.

She noticed the crowd start to disband and saw that Harry had his phone out and was threatening everyone, shouting for them to leave. Slowly, they all did, their phones in hand, whispering and pointing.

"Harry," Diana called out, rushing towards him, "What happened, why was everyone—"

She cut herself off when she saw the scene. Gwen and Sally. There was obviously a scuffle, though Sally looked worse for wear than Gwen. On the side, helping Sally, were Flash's other friends and, surprisingly, Liz Allan. Liz was the Vice President of ASB and was always seen at every event the school hosted.

Flash was by Gwen's side, whispering to her, shaking his head. He looked angry, though not at her which surprised both Diana and Harry.

"What happened?" she asked, crouching down beside them.

Flash stood and rounded on Sally. "You told Liz not to comfort Parker?"

Sally shrugged. "I thought you'd want that, I mean, it's only Parker."

Flash looked shell shocked. He slowly moved to sit down on the ground, shaking his head. "His uncle died and you thought I wanted you to keep people from helping him?" She nodded, frowning; she didn't know what she had done wrong.

"I can't," Diana whispered, turning away, "I just—no."

Liz looked at all the freshman, clearly overwhelmed. "Is he still here? I wanted to talk to him earlier, but—"

"No," Diana said, "We saw him leave with Ned Leeds maybe five minutes ago. You can see him tomorrow, though, if he's here, I'm sure he'll still appreciate the sentiment." It was Liz Allan, of course he would.

"Flash," Sally said, "I'm sorry. I thought I was doing the right thing, you know?"

Flash looked at her sadly. "Apologize to Parker, not to me." He turned around to where Gwen was standing next to Harry. "C'mon, Gwen, let's get you some ice cream."

She sniffed. "Sprinkles?"

He smiled. "Whatever you want."

She laughed softly and nodded, glancing down. "I just didn't like her talking about Peter like that. He's a person, he's a good person." After a pause, she looked up at him. "I don't like what you've been doing to him either, Flash."

He just nodded, motioning for them to walk. He glanced back at Diana who followed, falling into stride with Harry.

The taller boy sighed. "Crazy few weeks, huh? We get a hero, then a death, then our girl gets into a fight. What next?"

Diana motioned to where Flash had his arm slung over Gwen's shoulder, the two whispering softly. "Our trio's down to two."

He raised an eyebrow. "Did you just quote Lion King at me?"

She shrugged. "This week's been crazy as it is, Lion King seems commonplace in the general conversation." She sighed heavily, shaking her head, "I swear, Harry, I don't think it could get any stranger."

AUTHOR'S NOTE

REWRITTEN: JUNE 3, 2017/REPUBLISHED: JUNE 9, 2017

So! That happened. I called it montage because you know how in movies there's the happy montage before everything goes bad? Yeah, this is Peter's montage, but told in the third person perspective of Diana. The bad part for Diana's side starts next chapter.

So, in the canon, Peter did in fact win against Crusher Hogan in a fight, but he had become an overnight TV sensation. Because of the change in time period, I decided to make him a YouTube sensation (considering how everyone keeps saying 'from YouTube' when talking about him) and so I decided to have him be an internet craze, stopping buses and cars and stuff, but then it gets to his head a lil bit, you know, he gets complacent, cocky. He's a teen, it happens.

Also! I was going to mention Michelle in this chapter, but I saw something that said that she's a new student (can't verify that, but the source seems to know what they're talking about considering other things they mentioned) so I'm gonna have her show up in Part Two. (EDIT FROM THE FUTURE: I know why she has to be in Part Two now yay I was spoiled)

Sally Avril did, in fact, tell Liz Allan not to comfort Peter after Uncle Ben's death, so I incorporated that. I think I'm incorporating her character in a lot and I'm intrigued with where I take it.

The comforting scenes, well, I hope they were written well. I mean, Peter just needs a hug and sometimes, when people need to be comforted, they need other people besides their loved ones, I know I do and so do a lot of other people, it's just like that.