A/N: Hi guys. I haven't written a fanfic in a really long time, so long that I've forgotten my original username/password for this site, but I got this idea that I can't shake and quarantine is a thing now, so I thought I might as well use my extra time to write it out. For anyone who's reading, I hope you enjoy!

There was something up with Penny Parker. Flash was sure of it.

At first, he thought he was just overthinking things. Parker had always been a weird, scrawny, lego-obsessed freak. Her behavior seemed weird because she was weird. Case closed.

But for some reason, he just couldn't shake the feeling that something between their freshman and sophomore year had changed.

And some part of him desperately wanted to get to the bottom of it.

It was shortly after their homecoming dance sophomore year that he finally picked up on a tangible piece of evidence, proving that his vague theory had some substance. Surely he couldn't have been the only one who noticed the dark welts on her arms and legs after she changed into a t-shirt and shorts for gym class- and soon after, he realized that this was no one-time occurrence. Every time he saw the girl, she seemed to be sporting a new bruise, scrape, or burn.

At first, he acted like it was no big deal. She's clumsy, he tried to reason with himself. That girl is always tripping up in the hallways and spilling her books everywhere. It makes sense that such a klutz would have some marks. Big whoop.

Then again, on more than one occasion, he realized with a pang, he had been the one supplying the foot for her to trip over.

But it was only harmless fun. Parker had everything, even if she didn't realize it. She easily aced her classes while barely paying attention, while Flash was scrambling with his detailed notes and expensive tutors just to keep up. Parker could get away with murder and everyone seemed to praise her for it, but people were so willing to gang up on Flash for the smallest offense. And yeah, her parents had died years ago, but she and her aunt were all lovey and inseparable and perfect and it was absolutely nauseating.

And he couldn't even get started with that stupid Stark internship. He still wasn't sure if they were really buddy-buddy or if she just picked up his overpriced coffee every day.

So yeah, a little hallway humiliation via Flash's foot was in order every now and then, just to knock her down a few pegs.

But the bruises changed everything. Because all of a sudden, now that he knew to look for them, he always noticed them, and it was getting on his nerves. If this girl was seriously getting beat up regularly, what kind of major asshole would he be to contribute to that?

It took three weeks of scrapes and scars before he finally decided to confront her.

After their last class of the day, he made his move. "Hey Parker," he sneered, stepping in front of her before she could escape to her locker. She didn't even attempt to maneuver around him, but she noticeably tightened her grip around her stack of books.

"What, Flash?" Her tone was flat, resigned, and he couldn't blame her. He wasn't one to approach with intentions of friendly small-talk- at least, not with her.

He waited a bit for the rest of the class to move on, noticing Ned throwing her a worried glance that she dismissed with a wave. Soon, everyone was out of ear-shot.

"So… what's up with that thing on your arm?"

She stiffened. She clearly didn't expect that. "Um, what thing?"

Flash rolled his eyes. "For someone who gets straight A's, you can be incredibly stupid, Parker. I'm obviously talking about the gigantic bruise on your arm."

He sharply rolled up her sleeve before she could protest, revealing the dark, angry mark that covered half of her forearm. She winced at the movement, and he almost apologized. Almost.

"Oh, that?" she asked, feigning innocence. "I... fell. On my arm."

"You fell?"

"Mhmm."

"How?"

She blinked. Scrunched up her nose in thought. "I was... sitting at my kitchen table. I stood up, tripped, on my, uh, cat... and tried to catch myself, and I bruised my arm."

They were both silent for a second. Penny raised her eyebrows.

"Listen, bud, I know you're probably trying your best to come up with a fitting insult, but I have a chem quiz that I need to make up-"

"Shut up, Penis. I'm trying to decide whether or not I believe you."

She rolled her eyes, finally ducking around him and striding towards her locker. "Whatever, Flash."

And he could have been imagining it, but she seemed tense as she walked away.

The next day, while the bruise on her arm seemed to be fading at a miraculous speed, he noticed a new gash on her collarbone that barely peeked out of the collar of her sweatshirt. It was something he normally wouldn't notice, something that their classmates and teachers probably didn't notice.

"New addition there, Parker?" he casually muttered while they were both sliding their trays through the lunch line. "That'll leave a gnarly scar."

"Yep," she replied flippantly, suddenly fascinated with the task of finding the perfect apple to add to her plate.

"How'd you get it?"

"I… uh… was buttering my toast with a knife… and I… had a seizure?" She smiled unconvincingly.

Before she could run off to her little corner with Ned and MJ, Flash shot her one more question.

"And how's your cat doing?"

"Cat? I don't have a cat."

He smiled triumphantly. "Really? So the one you tripped over yesterday-"

"Wow do I have to pee- gotta go, Flash!" She squeaked, skipping past him and leaving her tray entirely, much to the chagrin of the lunch ladies.

The victorious feeling only lasted a few seconds- Penny was regularly suffering injuries. And she felt the need to lie about it. A feeling of nausea began growing in the pit of his stomach at the thought, completely wiping out his appetite.

Just what the hell was going on here?

It became a routine of theirs, something he wasn't expecting giving how little he cared for the nerd.

Once or twice a week he'd casually inquire about a recent injury, and she'd stutter through a clearly fabricated lie and run off. Penny was probably the worst liar Flash had ever seen- she would shuffle her feet, take a million pauses, and look anywhere but at his face. But she was dedicated- he'd give her that. Even though Flash would often catch her in her lies, and she knew that, she wouldn't relent.

She had even started sharing stories about her supposed cat, "Whiskers," at Academic Decathlon practice. But when he asked to see a picture of the "totally and 100% completely real" animal, all of a sudden she was late for her dinner with her aunt and had to speed off. At 3:45 in the afternoon.

Flash had finally had enough when she showed up to class one day wearing sunglasses, her head ducked down. Normally more energetic and talkative, she was quiet, intentionally trying not to draw attention to herself.

"Penny, you know sunglasses aren't permitted in school," Mrs. Gonzalez lectured, barely glancing up from the equations she was writing on the white board.

"Yeah, I know Mrs. Gonzales, it's just my eyes have been really hurting me lately, and I don't know if it's because we're getting closer to summer or something and it's getting brighter outside-"

"Penny-"

"And instead of being all squinty I thought I'd be responsible and put on some protective eye wear instead, you know, for safety purposes-"

"Penny-"

"And statistics show that we are at greater risk for vision loss the older we get, and I'm turning 16 soon and I'm honestly getting a little worried-"

"Penny!"

She clamped her mouth shut. A few girls in the back of the room giggled at her rant, but everyone shut up after she gingerly removed the sunglasses, revealing the nastiest looking black eye Flash had ever seen. Penny squirmed in her seat, positioning her dark curls so they somewhat hid the bright purple splotch.

He sucked in a breath through his teeth. They had been dancing around the subject too long- it was time for him to get some answers before this kid got herself killed.

This time, he caught her at her locker just before lunch.

"Where'd you get the shiner," he asked, his tone flat. He was done beating around the bush.

She stayed focused on her books, organizing them alphabetically with unnecessary concentration. "I accidentally punched myself in the face after sneezing too hard."

He grit his teeth. "Parker, you can't just keep on-"

"I'd love to chat, but today's nacho day, so I better get in line before they run out of cheese sauce!" She slammed her locker and started towards the cafeteria, but Flash grabbed her arm before she could leave. And it wasn't his normal I'm-grabbing-you-to-shove-you-against-a-locker grip. It was firm, but loose enough for her to slip out of if she wanted.

She paused. Shuffled her feet. Then, sighing, she faced him. "Fine. Cheese sauce can wait, I guess."

"So who is it? Some muggers near your apartment?"

Penny frowned, her light tone taking on an unexpected edge. "I honestly don't know why you care so much, Flash. You've made it extremely evident that you basically hate my guts."

"Yeah, well that doesn't mean I want you beaten up to a bloody pulp in some dark alleyway!" He closed his eyes, forcing himself to even out his tone. "And hate is a pretty strong word."

"I have it in writing, you know. You don't remember what you put in my yearbook last year?"

"That was a joke. Mostly."

"Suuuure…"

He took a breath and started again. "I'm not a total dick, Parker. These aren't some minor bumps and bruises, and if you're stuck in some sort of domestic abuse type situation- wait... your Aunt May isn't...?"

Penny blanched, her face a mask of horror. "WHAT? No, Flash, C'mon!"

Flash nearly laughed. This was the first genuine thing she had said to him in months.

So we can scratch the aunt off the list, he thought.

"Would you believe me if I told you that I am perfectly capable of handling myself on my own?" Her tone was pleading, her gaze sincere. "Seriously, Flash. If there is something going on- and I'm not saying there is- I think life would be a whole lot easier for the both of us if you drop it and we just go back to normal. Okay?"

He sighed, releasing his grip on her wrist. Getting her to talk was a lost cause.

"Okay, whatever. But this thing that is totally a thing even if you deny that it's a thing- at least talk to your aunt or loser friends or someone about it, okay?" He pivoted to leave, but before he lost his nerve, he blurted, "and if you feel like you can't talk to them as a last resort you can talk to me or whatever."

And with that, he sped off, leaving Penny with her jaw agape.

Penny didn't know when the change first started.

Yeah, she'd catch Flash staring at her every now and then, but that wasn't a totally uncommon occurrence. It was usually because she'd left a smear of cream cheese on her face from her morning bagel, or had put on mismatched shoes in her rush to make the bus, or had left a puddle of drool on her desk after dozing off in class, and a sharp insult would shortly follow.

But there were no insults this time. Just staring. And it was making her uncomfortable.

"What, is he trying to psych me out or something?" She asked Ned and MJ one day at lunch, peeling her orange with frustrated vigor. "Because it's working. He's freaking me out."

"Don't let him get to you, Penny. He isn't worth it," Ned reassured. "Maybe he's still mad that he's an alternate for Academic Decathlon and you're first string."

"Eh, he's probably just in love with you," MJ deadpanned, her eyes glued to the novel in her hands.

Penny spat out her milk mid-swig, coughing and spluttering while Ned awkwardly pounded her back. "Don't even joke about that," Penny shot back after regaining her breath. "Geez, MJ, do you want to give me a heart attack?"

"I like exploring possibilities," MJ retorted, fighting off a smile and resuming her reading.

When they eventually stood up to dump their trays, Ned leaned in to whisper "can you like… tell when someone is watching you? With your Penny tingle?"

"We are most definitely not calling it the Penny tingle," Penny moaned.

"Okay. What are we calling it."

"I don't know- something cooler? And a little less humiliating?"

"Fair point. But can you sense it?"

"Yeah, kinda."

"What's it feel like?"

"Um… you know when you randomly get a chill and you shiver? It's kinda like that."

"Awesome!"

Normally she would be on board with Ned here, but lately she was getting really sick of that feeling.

And then, out of nowhere, the questions started.

When Flash cornered her outside of the classroom, she expected a dig on her new periodic table of elements phone case, not "what's up with that thing on your arm?"

Penny's mind went blank. She couldn't exactly tell him "oh, you know, I was just doing my normal rounds as the friendly neighborhood Spiderman, who, spoiler alert, is actually a 15 year old girl, and then a terrifying dude who was definitely on some mega steroids yeeted me off a building and I ran out of web fluid and I had to grab onto a tree to keep from splatting on the ground and seriously banged up my arm in the process. Anyway, how was your weekend?"

So she came up with a lie. Granted, it sucked. She definitely didn't have a cat- Aunt May was crazy allergic- but who cared anyway? Penny figured he was just fishing for an embarrassing story, and he got it. Now maybe he could leave her alone.

But she didn't expect it to happen again the next day at lunch. Again, how was she supposed to explain that some psychos with machetes were swinging at an innocent civilian, and she ended up taking a pretty hard hit when she jumped in front of them to block the blow? There was also the little detail that any normal person would nearly have their head severed from their shoulders, but she only received a nasty gash- thank goodness for genetic mutation via spider, right?

So she came up with another clearly bullshit story, got called out on a lie (damn that fictional cat!), ran out of there, and left her ham sandwich in the process.

And that's how Penny found herself spending her 30 minute lunch break locked in a bathroom stall, trying not to come to the blatantly obvious conclusion that Flash was on to her.

And she either needed to become a much better liar or get him off her back, because if Flash Thompson found out that Penny Parker was actually Spiderman, all hell would break loose.