THINGS ONLY GOT WORSE WITH THE ARRIVAL OF DANNY GLICK. ESPECIALLY WHEN THE BOY DECIDED TO KNOCK ON THEIR DOOR AT ELEVEN AT NIGHT ON A TUESDAY. Jesse had been the one to hear him first, standing up and grabbing the baseball bat next to her door. She woke up Flash who woke up Diana, all three of them making their way to the door, baseball bats in hand.
"Wait," Diana whispered, "Your mom's home tonight." They were standing right by the door, Flash standing on his tiptoes to see through the peephole.
He waved her off, trying to see. "She's tired, let her rest, we can handle this." He sighed and gripped his bat, reaching slowly for the lock.
There was another knock and they all jumped, Jesse hitting the wall with her bat. The two freshman glared at her and she glared back, unlocking the door and throwing it open.
Flash raised up his bat, only to lower it when catching sight of their visitor. It was a boy in a sharp suit and neatly combed hair. He reminded Diana of Harry or the sort of person Harry would be friends with. All casually rich and proper.
"Hello," he said. They all raised their eyebrows at his accent. English. "May I come in?"
Jesse started to nod, but Flash raised a hand. "Why? Who are you? What makes you think you can just knock on our door this late at night and expect to be let in."
He raised an eyebrow, looking down at Flash. "Hm. Rude and forthcoming. That won't look very good for you. Trust me, you're going to want to let me in." He looked over at Diana. "My name is Daniel Glick."
Flash immediately went slack. He placed a hand on Diana's arm. "I'm gonna get mom, take him to the table, Jesse grab some food, lock the door."
Diana motioned the boy inside, confused. "So, Daniel—"
"Danny, please," he said, flashing her a thousand dollar smile. She was surprised, but still wary.
"Alright," she drawled, motioning for him to sit, "Well, Danny, what are you doing here? Are you a family friend?" She glanced at his pale skin and thought back to the blonde woman whom she had thrown her soup at; she later learned she wasn't biological family, but family nonetheless, maybe he was too.
"Yes," he said slowly, possibly trying to drawl in his own way, "I'm related. But not to...them." He said "them" with an air of superiority that made her skin crawl and her blood boil.
"What do you mean?" she asked, crossing her arms.
He smiled a sickly sweet smile that masked the feral, hungry smile underneath. "They didn't tell you? Figures. My name is Danny Glick. I'm your blood cousin."
º º º º º
"Diana. Diana, can you hear me?"
It was like she was underwater. She could hear and see Flash talking to her, but she couldn't focus. She could see Danny watching in vague interest; he seemed to be taking notes.
Blood cousin. Her parents had told her that she didn't have any family. Both of her parents were only children, so no cousins or aunts or uncles or anything. The closest she had to extended family were the Thompsons.
She had no blood family, that was why Rosie and Harrison took her in, because Rosie had promised to take care of her if something happened to her parents.
"Dina," Flash shouted and that shocked her out of it. Her arms and legs started to feel that sensation, the kind when she woke up from a nap too fast.
Dina. Flash had stopped calling her that years ago, when he finally got the hang of calling her Diana, the a included. It was just a small nickname, nothing important, but she had missed it.
"Diana," Danny said, reaching out for her arm.
"Don't touch her," Flash growled, smacking his hand away, "You can't just throw something on her like that."
"Physically aggressive," Danny hummed, "That won't be good for you at all."
"What are you talking about?" Diana demanded, looking over at Jesse who was sitting next to the boy, motioning for her to scoot farther away.
Danny smirked. "Figures they wouldn't tell you, it seems these people have no respect for family."
"She's our family and you can't just take her away because you feel like it," Flash shouted, jumping to his feet, "Where were you when her parents died? For five years, you decided to stay quiet, but you knew where to was and now you think you can just take her back? She's a person and she's our family!"
"Flash," Rosie whispered, her eyes closed.
"No, mom!" he shouted, "I read the emails, I know what they want, they can't just take her from us!"
"What? Flash, what is going on?" Diana asked, pulling him back down into his seat. Her head was starting to pound and she pressed against her temples.
Flash gripped her arm so tight that it started to hurt. "They want to take you back. They want you to move back in with them. They don't—" he swallowed thickly, "They don't think you deserve to live with us."
"It's her choice, Eugene," Danny sang and Flash jumped to his feet, only to have Diana drag him back down.
"Don't!" Diana shouted, "Don't. Either of you, just don't." She looked over at Danny. "Just like that, you have custody over me? Your family?"
He hummed. "Well, you see, my parents believe that it is ultimately your choice. We do understand that Ms. Thompson has custody over you and, if you're willing to come live with us, we can take it to court."
Diana glanced over to Rosie and Flash. "You knew about this? And you didn't tell me?"
"We didn't think they were serious," Flash sighed, "And mom was going to tell you, but we just didn't know what time."
Diana took a few deep breaths. "Okay. Okay, so, why do you keep telling Flash that things won't look good for him?"
Danny smiled. "Well, considering everything, if the court were to see just how unstable your home life is, you'd have no choice but to come live with us."
She frowned. "But you said that I had a choice, I can choose to come and live with you or stay with them."
He smiled again, only this time it was more condescending. "That's what we say, but that's not what we mean."
Flash snorted. "Spoken like a true Brit." He shook his head, staring at the table. "Diana. Do you want to live with them?"
She looked over her cousin. He looked like her. He had parents of his own and they wanted her to live with them. She wouldn't have to burden the Thompsons anymore. She wouldn't have to keep taking their money and wasting their water, their food, their living space. They wouldn't have to worry about her anymore.
But then she saw Rosie. Her godmother—her aunt Rosie. She was crying. She had her lips pursed and had her hands folded in her lap, her nails digging into her skin. She saw Jesse who was shaking her head at her, crying as well, silently pleading with her not to leave.
Flash. Flash was sitting completely still. He had his hands folded on the table and his eyes were closed. His hair, usually styled, was still messy from when he was asleep in bed. She knew he was asleep because he had started to talk again. She also knew he took sleep medication or else he would be up all night.
She knew everything about this family, but nothing about the other.
"I don't know you," she said, looking at Danny, "So, I can't just make a choice right now."
He nodded. "I know. We thought about that. Which is why," he reached into the bag he had and took out a file, "We have proposed an agreement of sorts. A challenge, if it makes it easier for Eugene to understand."
Flash scowled, but said nothing, walking over to stand behind Diana's chair, looking at the file. She looked at it as well, surprised to find various diagrams and forms. Very professional.
"You have until the end of the school year to prove that Diana can stay with you," Danny explained, "You have to prove it to us as well as to the people who will come to inspect your home lives. That means each member of the family needs to show that they will keep Diana in a safe environment."
"That won't be hard, we love her," Flash said, gripping the back of her chair to keep from punching the boy.
Danny smirked. "Not that easy. Considering your temper and the single income household, I'm not so sure."
Flash frowned. "We're not necessarily single income, we're being supported by my mom's side and my dad's."
Danny raised an eyebrow. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know Harrison was still in the picture and working, can he join us?"
Jesse beat Flash to the punch. "Keep talking and I bet you can meet him in hell real soon."
Danny tsked. "Not a good look, Jesse." He turned to look at Rosie. "Ms. Thompson, anything to say?"
She sighed and looked up at him. "Are you here for your whole family or are they in the city as well."
He crossed his arms. "Now here's an intellectual question. No, they are back home, I'm here on exchange. However, they will be coming home for Christmas, just a month away. We will discuss more, though you should hope to start preparing yourselves."
Diana spoke up. "Why do you want me to live with you that badly? Flash is right, where were you all those years ago?"
Danny shook his head. "My mother will explain more, however, it wasn't by choice. Your parents were the ones who pushed us away, we hadn't heard of anything until recently. We were isolated."
Flash snorted. "I wonder why."
Danny frowned. "I'm not your enemy."
The other shrugged. "You're taking away my sister, I disagree."
Danny laughed. "She's not your sister, you're not family."
"Yeah, well, neither are you."
At first, Diana thought it had been Flash who had said that. It wasn't until she saw everyone looking at her that she realized she had been the one to speak.
Danny sighed. "You'll understand soon enough. Keep the file, read over it. I'll see you two at school tomorrow."
He saw himself out. He just stood up from his chair and left, closing the door behind him. The entire room was silent. Eerily calm and still.
Rosie dropped her head into her hands. "Fuck."
º º º º º
Diana pretended to sleep. She had thrown her comforter onto the ground by her door so she could listen in, but not be too uncomfortable.
She had been the first and only one to leave the dining table. The Thompson family had decided to stay, still staring at the file. This was a direct attack on their lives and their own persons, she needed to give them their space.
They had started to talk maybe ten minutes after she left.
"They can't take her away," Flash kept arguing.
"They can and they will," Rosie argued, "They're right, she could have a better life with them."
"You're just going to give her up?" Flash demanded, "She's the last link to your best friend and you're just gonna give her up? Like that? She's your daughter too!"
"It's not about me, Flash!" she shouted, "It's not about us! This is about Diana. This is her family, she needs to have them, she needs them."
She almost didn't hear what he said next. "I thought we were her family. Aren't we enough?"
º º º º º
In the morning, it was as if nothing happened.
Rosie was gone in the morning and left food on the table for them just like usual. They got ready for school easily enough, none of them really wanting to eat, struggling to get some food in their stomachs before the horror of school.
"I'm gonna go get dressed," Jesse said, practically running from the table, leaving everything for them to clean up.
Flash sighed and finished up eating, looking over at Jesse's plate, then over at the sink. He stood up and took his and Jesse's plates, bringing them over to the sink. Diana followed quickly, stopping him just before he ran off.
"What?" he asked, tone clipped.
She pulled him into a hug, sighing. He didn't hug back. She could feel him struggling, trying to get away, but also wanting to just relax into her hug. He just stood there, motionless, waiting for it to be over.
She pulled away slowly, hurt. She looked down at him and he just blinked. Then, without another word, he walked off towards the hallway, shoulders up to his ears, posture stiff.
She bit her lip and tried not to cry. This would only be the beginning and it already hurt so much.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
REWRITTEN: JUNE 4, 2017/REPUBLISHED: JUNE 10, 2017
Okay, so I just saw the behind the scenes of Homecoming and since Flash is just an intellectual rival like I had figured (humble brag) I decided to incorporate that into the story. I'm very excited, there's going to be a lot of layers of his character, I'm excited.
So! Yes! We have the antagonist of sorts—at least to Diana—Danny Glick. The hardest part about him is his family. You'll see them next chapter. I'm having lots of time skips, if only to keep the story moving because I'm on a deadline, but also because I want Peter/Spider-Man to show up, it's been eights chapters.
I have a question: would ya'll be opposed to chapters almost every day? I know I'm already doing Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, but how would you feel about, like, every day? I did that for Dexter and people were okay with it, but what do you guys think? I just wanna reach the deadline in time? You know? I can do it, would you like me to?
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!