WARNING: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND ABUSE

º º º º º

GWEN AND HARRY DIDN'T STOP HUGGING DIANA AND FLASH FOR THE BETTER PART OF TWENTY MINUTES. The two woke up to the sound of Rosie asking the two teenagers if they wanted anything to eat or drink, to which the two replied that they were fine, thank you. They walked into Diana's room, as Flash slept in her bed once returning home, and immediately fell on top of them, pulling them into a big group hug, screaming about how much they loved them and to never nearly die again.

"I didn't almost die," Diana pointed out, "I was outside with Michelle the whole time."

"Doesn't matter, we love you!" Harry cried, trying to pull her towards him despite having his arms and lap full with Flash who was pretending to be miffed at being forced into a hug, despite leaning into Harry.

Gwen dropped her head onto Diana's shoulder. "I don't want you guys to ever leave my sight ever again. I'm taking you with me to Oscorp."

Flash groaned. "I don't wanna go see the fancy technology you're working on, Gwen, it's boring and they won't let me touch anything."

"Have you ever been to my dad's place?" Harry asked.

Flash shook his head. "No, but I bet it's boring."

Gwen scoffed. "It's super cool, shut up, Flash. We're working on genetics right now. They have spiders..." she made her hand crawl up Diana's back, causing the girl to shriek and jump towards Flash who nearly knocked over Harry.

"I hope one bites you," Flash grumbled, trying to adjust his position.

Gwen just rolled her eyes and moved past Diana to lean over and kiss his cheek, causing him to turn red and splutter, going so far as to hide his face in Harry's shirt, mumbling about her being stupid. Diana and Harry grinned widely at each other, looking down at the shortest members of their group.

"Why is your mom so flustered today?" Gwen asked, "We walked in and she's got all these recipes printed out and stuff. Is it someone's birthday?"

Flash's mood immediately dampened. "No. Dad invited his boss over for dinner. He and mom are doing this thing they used to do where they're gonna cook together. Mom's excited."

"Your dad invited his boss over...to your house?" Harry asked, "Isn't that a little..."

"He practically lives here," Flash grumbled, "And mom said it'd be a good way to show our support since his boss is aware of his 'situation'." He said 'situation' with air quotes before crossing his arms.

"I'm sorry," Harry sighed. He understood Flash's dad issues well, something the two boys stood in silent solidarity with.

"Diana, you have a text," Gwen said, looking over at the desk which held Diana's lit up phone.

The blonde untangled herself from the pile, stumbling out of bed and towards the phone.

"If it's Parker, tell him I'm still gunning for him to get expelled," Flash called out.

Diana rolled her eyes, too tired to let that sour her mood as much as it normally would. She glanced down at her phone, lighting up at the sight of the sender. Nicky.

from: Nicky (12:25 pm)
Diana, I just wanted to let you
know that you're one of my
favorite people

She frowned, texting him back quickly. This didn't sound good.

to: Nicky (12:25 pm)
You are too. What's wrong? Or
are you just being dramatic like
everyone else cause of my near
death experience?

from: Nicky (12:26 pm)
You almost died?! When what
where how why?! And no I just
need you to know

to: Nicky (12:26 pm)
I'll explain when I see you
next time

She didn't like the ominous feel she received from his text, so she made it so he had to assure her that he was going to see her in person again.

from: Nicky (12:27 pm)
Here's to hoping. Gotta go talk
to you later

She groaned and dropped her phone onto her desk. That didn't help ease her conscience. At the confused looks of the others, she showed them the texts, careful not to scroll up too far and show them the conversations about her earrings.

"If anyone touches him, I'm gonna run over them with my limo," Harry grumbled, his eyes dark. Diana sometimes forgot that he was the one who introduced her to the man; she was infinitely grateful for it.

"I'll get my dad's gun," Gwen added, "I don't really know this guy, but he seems sweet."

"He is," Flash said, "He's a really great guy. Dad made us quit him, but I really liked him."

Diana gritted her teeth. "Are you telling me that Harrison is the reason why you can't go to your much needed therapy?"

Flash frowned at her. "I'm gonna pretend you didn't just infer something really rude and say yes."

Harry and Diana sighed loudly, sharing a look. Harrison Thompson was the complete worst. They glanced over at Gwen who worried on her bottom lip; she never had to go to therapy like the rest of them, so she didn't really understand the significance of it at times.

Diana's phone chimed again and they all jumped at the sound. She moved and picked it up from its spot on the bed, raising an eyebrow. She didn't have the number in her contacts and she couldn't see the attachment.

"This is some scary murder stuff right here," Harry commented as they all looked at her phone screen.

"Or it's a modern YA Fantasy novel in which your quest is sent to you through modern technology," Gwen piped up, shoving Harry lightly, "Not everything has to be dark."

"Just open it," Flash urged.

She opened her phone, checking the message. It had no words or explanation of who it was. All that was sent was a picture of Diana and Flash asleep on the bus ride back from Washington. It was taken in a way that showed Peter a few rows back, sleeping by himself.

"That is so cute," Gwen whispered, "But also...sad? I don't know, are we getting the sad vibe?"

"We are," Diana mumbled, because she knew who sent it. She understood why Flash and Peter were on the same side of the seats and both turned away from Diana who was turned towards the window.

She glanced at all of them. "But that's just the picture. Afterwards, it gets happier."

She hoped that were true.

º º º º º

Gwen and Harry had to leave about an hour after that, leaving Diana and Flash to hide out in her room. She had snuck out briefly to grab snacks and Jesse when the two adults weren't paying attention, but then they stayed put in the room until it was dinner.

"Do we even know who his boss is?" Jesse asked, sipping from her juice box, "What if he's, like, in the mafia?"

"Do we even have a mafia?" Diana asked, "Is the mafia one collective thing or are there different mafias?"

"Does it matter?" Flash asked, glancing up from his phone, "Maybe his boss is actually a hitman sent to kill all of us."

"What would your dad have to gain?" Diana asked, "It's his side that's the richer one."

"True," he hummed, "But he's nuts and I don't really know any of his motivations. Pass me some Cheetos."

Diana reached over and passed him the bag, watching as he dug in, popping one in his mouth. The two Thompson siblings were tense and Diana couldn't blame them, honestly. For most of the dinners with Harrison present, there would be some sort of fight that would ensue. Now that there would be a guest, they couldn't say anything negative for fear of the consequences.

"Have you told him about the trophy yet?" she asked, moving to sit closer to the boy.

"Nope," Flash said, taking a bite of another Cheeto, "I wanna tell him in front of the guest so he'd have no choice but to pretend like he's proud of me. It might be fake, but I'll take what I can get."

She sighed and shared a look with Jesse before dropping her head onto his shoulder. "I'm proud of you."

He smirked. "Thanks, Dina."

"I hope mom's making spaghetti," Jesse commented, "Because I'm having cravings."

"I heard her go onto the terrace, so I think she made some steak," Flash said, reaching for more of the chips, only for Diana to pull them out of reach.

"No, we're gonna have dinner soon, don't ruin your appetite." She moved all the chips into the corner of the room where Flash was too lazy to go to.

"Whatever, mom," he grumbled.

The three just continued to sit, waiting until it was time for dinner. Diana dozed off at one point while texting Nicky who continuously reminded her that Rosie didn't have it as easy as she thought she did.

from: Nicky (11:25 pm)
She's been in a toxic relationship
for most of her life, it affects her
judgement. She probably doesn't
want him around, but then he does
something that makes her question
herself and she wants to make it
work because no one wants to
shoulder the blame of not
keeping a family together, she's
holding a lot more than you know

Diana just tried to understand and stomach it. She also asked him what he had meant by his texts earlier, to which he replied with throwaway lines and, at one point, a quick text asking her not to mention it at that time.

to: Nicky (5:17 pm)
Not here. Stop.

So she did and continued to worry about him. Maybe something had happened to Rhett and they were hiding. Maybe she shouldn't be texting him.

Something was seriously wrong.

Just then, the doorbell rang.

"Kids, can you please get that!"

The three teenagers glanced at each other before slinking out of her room, slowly making their way to the door. Flash reached out and opened the door, all three of them looking up.

Standing in front of them was a smiling man holding a bouquet of flowers, a leather jacket thrown over his shoulders.

"Well, hey there. Is this the Thompson residence?"

They nodded slowly, still staring at him with wide eyes.

He grinned. "Great. I'm Adrian Toomes."

º º º º º

Adrian Toomes was a fairly easy-going person. He didn't talk about anything controversial at the table and was good at making conversation with everyone. Sure, he was a little intimidating, but there was nothing that gave any of the teenagers a bad feeling.

"You kids go to Midtown?" Adrian asked when Rosie mentioned their school to him. They all nodded. He smiled. "So does my daughter! She's a senior, Liz? She took her mother's name on the papers. Liz Allan."

"Oh, yeah, we know Liz," Flash said, now more interested, "We're in decathlon together. You have a very nice home, Mr. Toomes, we went there for one of her parties."

"Oh nice," he said, "And thank you. Hey, I heard about what happened at Washington, how are you holding up? Were you two there too?" He glanced between Jesse and Diana who nodded.

"Jesse was at the memorial, I was right outside the monument," Diana explained.

"I'm holding up pretty okay," Flash replied, taking a sip of his water, "It was scary, though. But we're all okay."

"Yeah," Adrian said, "And congratulations on winning first place. Nationals. Smart kid you have there, Harrison." He glanced towards the man who was staring at his son in shock.

"Hm? Oh, uh, yeah. Real smart, I'm glad we sent him to that school. Really whipped him into shape." Diana could tell he was straining to say something kind and she had to hide her smile behind her glass.

She frowned when she noticed the opened beer bottle next to him. He only had one so far, so there wasn't much to worry about.

"We actually have a picture with us and the trophy if you wanna see," Flash said, smirking at his father.

"Well, yeah! I haven't seen it yet, Liz didn't have any, so I'd love to see it. She's a great girl, my Liz." He smiled fondly, looking over at Rosie, "You have great kids, Rosie, you're a saint. Taking care of three, seems like a handful. But I don't think they'd bother you too much right?" Rosie laughed as Adrian looked over at the two girls, winking conspiratorially.

Diana and Jesse smiled, looking up when Flash returned from Diana's room, phone in hand. "It's huge," he commented, standing between Harrison and Adrian's seats, showing them the screen.

Adrian laughed heartily. "Now that's a trophy! Look at those arms, son," he pointed to Flash in the picture who was lifting the trophy all by himself, "Do you do any of the sports?"

"I played football," he said, pocketing the phone and returning to his seat, "But I quit this year."

"Oh, why's that?" Adrian asked, clearly interested.

"I just had a lot of school and decathlon was the only thing I could fit in, really. I mean, I might go back since it'll look good on my college applications if I maintain a high GPA and do all these different things but...I just couldn't do it this year." He took a bite of his food, nudging Diana with his foot. She gave him a small nod; he did good.

"That's very mature of you," Adrian commented, "What do you three want to do when you get out of this high school, I mean, you've all probably got your whole lives planned out, it's a great school."

"I want to go into the medical field. Nursing," Diana said, surprised at how quick she was to answer.

"Nursing," Adrian repeated, impressed, "What made you want to do that?"

She licked her lips, trying to come up with a response that was better than 'I helped Spider-Man almost every night for a good few months and we made out sometimes'. She decided to go with the initial reason.

"My parents died during the Battle of New York," she confessed, "And I just want to be able to help people the way I wasn't able to help them."

Adrian nodded slowly. "That's...very brave of you. I'm sorry about your family."

She smiled. "It's alright. The one I have now is pretty great." She turned to look directly at Flash. "Why leave when you've got the best right here?"

Flash looked down at his plate, biting his lip and shaking his head. "I think I might cry." Jesse laughed and kicked him lightly under the table, mumbling 'weak'.

"Harrison, didn't you mention you played football in high school?" Adrian asked, turning to the man.

"Oh, yeah, I was the star quarterback," Harrison proclaimed, "Helped a lot when I worked for the NYPD. Need muscle for the heavy sort of work."

"I'm sure it helped for a lot of other things," Flash mumbled as he took a sip of his drink.

"What does that mean?" Adrian asked, still smiling. If only he knew.

"Nothing," Flash said, "Just for, you know, if you need to throw some things around, muscle's helpful."

"Yeah, for like moving and stuff, that makes sense," Adrian said, "Smart thinking."

Flash gave him a pursed smile. "Totally."

Harrison stared at his son as he downed his entire bottle of beer, silently motioning for Rosie to get him another one. She did as he asked, though she faltered when handing it to him, as if wanting to pull back and not let him have anymore.

The entire dinner continued in the same manner. Adrian winning over the entire family, he and Flash unwittingly working together to rile up Harrison who was forced to say nice things about his son and having to catch himself as his words were soon turned against him, demanding more bottles of beer from his wife who reluctantly handed him more and more.

Finally, and unfortunately, Adrian had to go home.

"This was a wonderful dinner, thank you so much for inviting me," he said as he made his way to the door, "You have a beautiful family. Better watch out, now that Liz is leaving soon, I might take these kids for myself." He laughed heartily to let them know he was joking, the others joining in.

"Promise?" Flash half-joked and Adrian patted his shoulder, not catching the way they boy leaning into the fatherly touch.

"You kids take care," he said, "Thank you again. See you at work tomorrow, Harrison." With that, the door closed and he was gone.

"He was nice," Flash commented, moving to help his mom put away the dishes.

"Yeah," Diana said, "But he's Liz's dad, what did we expect? They probably having family movie nights and go to the park together and stuff."

"That sounds tiring," Jesse piped in and Diana laughed.

Flash laughed as well and reached over to pick up the last of his plates. As he turned around, he was met by Harrison who shoved him and the plates into the table.

"What the hell?" Flash exclaimed, an arm over his face as the plates all shattered.

"You think you can just dick around, you little shit?" Harrison slurred, shoving Flash back into the table as the boy tried to get away, "Think you can just embarrass me?"

"Dad, stop," Flash said, moving away far enough to have some place to run.

"Trying to make me look bad, is that it?" he roared, causing all of them to jump, "Think that you can just—just—" He trailed off, trying to find the right words.

"Mom, how much did you let him drink?" Flash demanded, looking towards the woman with fear and anger.

She opened and closed her mouth, shaking her head. She turned to look over at the counter which held seven empty beer bottles. She gasped and clasped a hand over her mouth, taking a deep breath.

"Oh God, mom, what were you thinking?" Flash shouted, screaming as he was shoved into the wall, his head hitting it roughly.

"I'm sorry," Rosie whispered, looking away.

"Don't talk to your mother like that!" Harrison slurred. Flash pulled away at the smell of liquor; it was so strong Diana could smell it from her spot in front of Jesse.

"Dad, you're drunk, please," Flash begged, trying to melt into the wall as his father drew closer, "Please."

"What, you gonna whine like a little bitch now," Harrison taunted, "Come on, be a man! Man up!" He kept shoving Flash, despite the boy having nowhere else to go.

He darted quickly to the right, making a break for the living room, only for Harrison to catch him and trip him, causing him to tumble into the coffee table. He fell to the ground and Harrison stalked over to him.

"No!" Jesse screamed, running towards her father, grabbing his arm. She yelped as struggled as he whirled around and grabbed her arm, screaming obscenities at her.

Diana couldn't move. She just stood in shock watching everything happen, her brain screaming at her to do something, but her body not responding.

"Don't touch her!" Flash screamed, throwing himself at his father, giving Jesse enough to rip away and run back towards the dining table.

Harrison shoved Flash and turned around, his arm colliding with the boy's face at full force, sending him flying to the ground. Flash screamed.

Just like last time, Diana snapped.

She rushed forward towards where Flash was, Harrison standing above him, still shouting. Flash tried to stand, but was immediately kicked back down. He curled in on himself, his breathing ragged.

Just as Harrison was about to pull his leg back, Diana came forward and swung her arm at full force, the vase in her hands colliding with the side of his face.

He fell to the ground, clutching the cuts on his face. Diana grabbed Flash and pulled him up, trying to get him to his room. She heard Harrison run after them and she whirled around, feeling as though her heart was about to burst.

She readied herself for the blow, but nothing came. She opened her eyes and found Jesse standing over her father with a baseball bat in her hand, standing over the man as he clutched his side.

"—he hit my son! Please, send someone over, we need—Captain Stacy, please—"

Diana looked towards Rosie who was on the phone with Captain Stacy. She was calling the police. Flash was clutching his stomach, but was pulled up to a crouch, glaring down at his father who was trying to stand, only for Jesse to kick him back down.

She shrieked when he shot forward and tried to grab the bat from her hands. Flash quickly pulled himself up on Diana's shoulder, giving his father a swift kick in the nose.

"You shit!" Harrison screamed, clutching his nose.

"You need to leave," Diana said, reaching out with her cut up hands to grab him by his shirt and drag him towards the door.

She dropped him close to the door and let go, opening it. "Go. Get out." She wasn't going to carry him out, he needed to stand and do it himself.

He rose to his feet and tried to lunge for her, only to get shoved out the door by Flash, who jumped out, kicking him in the stomach.

"Don't. Touch. Her."

Then he ran inside and closed the door, pressing his weight against it as Harrison kicked and punched at the wood, trying to get back inside, screaming at them.

"Diana, get a chair, put it under the handle," he commanded, struggling to stay upright and barricade the door. Jesse moved to stand next to him, pressing against it as well.

Diana ran to the kitchen table and grabbed a chair, shoving it under the handle. She watched as Rosie ran towards the hall, reappearing a few moments later, pushing the large tubs of medical supplies she still had underneath her bed, placing them against the door.

"They'll be here soon," she whispered, not looking at any of them.

"What if he goes to someone else?" Jesse asked, still pressed against the door.

"He won't," Rosie sighed, "But I also called the front desk and told them not to let him leave the building or access the elevator. So we've basically locked down the building."

"Great," Flash said sarcastically.

She reached over and placed her hand against his cheek, her touch feather light. "I'm sorry."

He bit his lip and looked at her in the eye. "He's not a good person, mom. He never will be. Nicky said you think he is, but he's not."

She sighed and nodded. "I know. I know, sweetie, I just didn't want—" she couldn't finish her sentence.

"It's okay, mom," he breathed, closing his eyes, "It's okay."

The four of them sat against the door, not moving until they heard the sounds of Gwen's father taking Harrison away.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

( 08.07.17 )

I hope this chapter was alright, you guys, I know it was intense and a little all over the place, I just hope it was alright in its sense, you know? Yeah.

I just made up something for Liz's last name as it's Adrian Toomes, Liz Allan, I just had to come up with some sort of reasoning, I didn't research about it or anything.

You like my Spider-Gwen reference? I would literally die for Spider-Gwen, she's my favorite superhero (yeah, i said it, my actual fav)

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