LONELY HEARTS | ❝You don't have to be a hero, just like I don't have to be sad all the time, but sometimes fate works in strange ways and, well, here we are❞
PRE-CIVIL WAR → HOMECOMING | PETER PARKER
BOOK ONE IN THE HERO OF HEROES SERIES
Plot: tinke...
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WHILE PETER PARKER RETURNED TO NORMALCY, DIANA SMITH WAS DOING ANYTHING BUT. While he was forced to return to a life without Spider-Man, she was working to live up to the name she had made for herself; though she wasn't going out and fighting crime.
She had overheard what had happened to Peter through her earrings as he explained it to his aunt later that night, something that made her stomach churn.
"Why would Tony Stark do that?" she demanded to Nicky on the phone, "He's a kid, he makes mistakes, but he did nearly save everyone, you saw the footage! He was trying."
"Sometimes, trying isn't good enough when lives are involved," Nicky tried to rationalize, "There's a line between 'you can't save everyone' and 'you're putting lives in danger', you understand?"
She sighed and fell onto her bed. "I don't like it. Tap into it, he was still crying when I turned the audio off. I have never heard him cry, it hurts, Nicky."
"Knowing Peter, he'll find a way," Nicky tried to soothe, "Just try to be kind to him this week, yeah?"
She chewed on his lip. "I always try."
He was probably smiling on the other end. "Then you just do that. Goodnight, Diana."
"Night, Nicky."
º º º º º
The next day, Diana tried to watch Peter, see how he was holding up. The thing about him was, despite how much he loved being Spider-Man, he was really good at hiding it from the general public. If anything, it just seemed as though he was excited to work for Tony Stark, which wasn't far off from what he was doing. He handled it well enough, though he looked sad the entire day.
"How're you holding up?" she asked, passing by his locker, "I saw what happened on the news."
He sighed softly and turned to look at her, glancing around before lowering his voice, leaning in close to whisper, "He took the suit."
"What?" she gasped, trying hard to seem shocked, "Peter, I'm so sorry."
"It's alright," he mumbled, "I-I'll live." He leaned against his locker, looking utterly devastated. His eyes darted to her earrings, then to the matching bangles on her wrist. "New boyfriend?"
She blinked. "What?"
He waved a lazy hand towards her ears, then to her wrists. "New boyfriend, you find someone new? He nice, you like him, what's he like, is he good to you?"
She shook her head quickly, too shocked to laugh. "Um, no, not new boyfriend, Nicky is not my new boyfriend. Uh, he just made me these to mess with in class if I get too overwhelmed."
"Oh," he said, expression barely changing, "Well, uh, I'm sorry? I dunno if you wanted to find someone new or something, I dunno."
"I'm not really looking," she said lightly, hand reaching up to touch a necklace that was no longer there.
