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The drive back home was relatively silent, at least for Andi it was. The group was still in a bit of shock due to the events of the weekend, so there were only a few hushed conversations among them, otherwise it remained particularly silent.

Andi sat by herself in the very back of the bus, away from the rest of her teammates. She managed to catch the attention of Ned and Michelle, both of whom knew the blonde to be particularly talkative when given the opportunity, though despite the lack of opportunity, she seemed to be a bit more somber than the rest of the team. The two also noticed that she and Peter hadn't spoken a single word to each other, which was very rare. The pair were the best of friends, and when Peter wasn't speaking to Ned, Andi was always right there by his side. It was different now, though. Peter didn't want Andi by his side, or at least the stubborn part of him didn't. He didn't want to admit it, but Andi had hurt him. In his eyes, Andi was never really his friend—she only pretended to be—and for him it sucked when he realized just how much he truly cared about her.

"Look," Ned's voice sounded from beside Andi. "Whatever is going on between you and Peter, fix it, because you're both my best friends and the fact that you two are fighting is only bumming me out, and after almost dying this weekend, I could use a bit of extra positivity in my life."

Andi looked up from her phone screen and pulled her remaining headphone from her ear. She looked at Ned with a soft smile on her face, though he could see the sadness hidden in her brown eyes. He knew whatever happened between the two of them had been bad, bad enough to inflict sadness into the one person he believed was incapable of feeling such an emotion.

"Let your extra positivity be that you almost died, but you didn't," Andi told him.

"You can't be serious," Ned said with a roll of his eyes.

"Listen, Ned," Andi started. "What happened between Peter and I is between the two of us, and it will stay between the two of us unless he decides to tell you on his own time. The only thing I'll tell you is that he doesn't want it to be fixed, and I'm just gonna have to be okay with that. I can't chase after someone who doesn't want to be caught."

Michelle hummed from her seat across the aisle. "Well, that was deep," she said, her attention on the book in her lap.

Andi let out a sigh and ran a hand through her hair, pulling a smile onto her face. She was aware of just how fake it was, but Ned was not. It bothered her, though, that someone she'd known for only months had such an emotional effect on her. Her mission had only been to look out for Peter, but it'd become so much more than that. She cared about Peter, much more than either one of them would ever know, and that was the worst part of it all.

"The only other thing I can say to you is that this whole situation is complicated," she explained to Ned. "I wish I could tell you what's going on, I really do, but it's best for all three of us if Peter and I just keep it between us."

"So, what does this mean?" Ned questioned the blonde. "Are you, like, not gonna be my friend anymore because of this?"

Andi chuckled and shook her head. "Of course I'm still going to be your friend, Ned. You keep life interesting. I have no choice but to keep you around."

Ned popped his collar and smirked. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

Andi smiled and looked back down at her phone, while Ned got up from his seat and made his way back to Peter. She wanted nothing more than to follow behind Ned and talk to Peter about the situation, but she knew that wasn't what he wanted, so she remained in her seat with her attention on her phone. She was talking to Tony, just as she had been since they'd left Washington earlier that night. She was giving him mission updates, but he was more concerned with her tone. Andi was being a lot dryer than usual, something of which Tony caught onto quickly. He knew there was something wrong with her, and while he could not get her to explain anything over the phone, he would do whatever he could to get her to spill her guts in person.

About 45 minutes later, the bus pulled into the school's parking lot. Andi gathered up her belongings, wasting no time at all hurrying off the bus. She was tired of being crammed in such a space. All she wanted was to forget the weekend ever happened and head to bed.

Andi stepped off of the bus, only to be greeted by Peter's Aunt May. It was a surprise, but it was one Andi accepted nonetheless.

"Andi," May breathed out and pulled the blonde into a hug. "I'm so glad you kids are okay."

Andi smiled and pulled away from May. "So am I," she responded.

"May," Andi heard Peter's voice say.

She turned her head to see Peter approaching the two of them very cautiously, his focus shifting between the two of them periodically. Andi simply turned away from him, while May ran to greet him.

"Peter." May's tone was that of relief, but that was to be expected. "Come here, come here."

May pulled Peter in for a hug, and while his arms were wrapped tightly around his aunt, his eyes were on Andi. She was biting her nails, a nervous tick she picked up quite some time ago. She didn't know what to say or where to go. She didn't have anyone to pick her up like the rest of her friends did. She didn't have anyone she loved waiting on her like the rest of her friends did.

"Thank goodness you all made it home in one piece," May said as she pulled away from Peter to look at Andi. Ned hadn't made an appearance yet, which was strange. Andi could only assume that his parents had drug him home the moment he stepped off the bus.

"Yeah," Peter muttered. "Thank goodness."

"Well, I'm gonna head on out," Andi spoke quietly.

May looked at the blonde, who was slowly backing away from the two of them. "Oh, are your parents here to get you? I don't remember seeing anyone here for you."

Andi shrugged. "I'm just gonna walk, it's no big deal."

"No, no," May protested. "At least let me give you a ride home, Andi."

"That's okay, I'm only a few blocks away," Andi assured her.

May glanced down at Peter, who remained silent since the two began speaking to one another. May figured he would speak up about her wanting to walk home, especially by herself in the night, but he had yet to do so, which was strange to her. "It's the middle of the night, Andi. It's not safe for a girl your age to walk home by herself, no matter how far away it is. C'mon, sweetie, just let me give you a ride."

Peter sighed at her side and gripped his bag tighter over his shoulder. "She doesn't want a ride, May. Anyway, she's perfectly capable of taking care of herself. She'll be fine."

May looked at Peter with a surprised expression on her face. His tone and his words were not at all what she'd been expecting from him. "Peter," she chastised him.

"No," Andi started. "It's okay, he's right. I'll be okay."

Andi walked away without another word. She let out a breath as she walked down the street, her destination being the Avengers' Tower, which was located 30 minutes away in Manhattan. Normally, she took an Uber or Lyft back into the city, but she didn't have the patience to wait for one.

Andi barely made it down the road when her phone rang in her pocket. She pulled it out, checking the caller I.D. to see that Tony was calling her. A sigh escaped her and she pressed the phone to her ear.

"Hello?" she answered, her voice quiet.

"I need you to stop walking and turn around," Tony said into the speaker.

Andi did as he said and turned around, only to be met with the sight of one of Tony's many expensive vehicles. It was a surprise to her, Tony's presence. He'd been gone since he'd asked her to look over Peter. She had no clue what he'd been doing, nor did she care. What mattered was that he came back.

The car pulled to a stop in front of Andi and she hung up the phone the moment she saw Tony's face.

"You couldn't have waited for me in the parking lot?" Tony questioned her.

"I didn't know anyone was coming to get me. They never usually do," Andi answered quietly, her tone throwing Tony off ever-so-slightly. She was upset, that much he could determine, but what he could not figure out was why. Andi was never one to be upset about anything. 

"Are you okay?" Tony asked her.

"Yeah, I'm okay."

Tony narrowed his eyes at the girl. He didn't believe her at all, but he had ways to break her. He'd known her since she was six years old. He was one of the few who knew how to get through to her.

"Alright, Blondie," Tony said to her. "Get in."

Andi sighed and rounded the front of the car. She pulled the passenger's side door open and threw her bags into the backseat of the small car before sitting down and closing the door. Tony took off the moment she was in her seat.

Several moments of silence passed before Tony finally spoke, but he was not at all prepared for what was to happen the moment the words left his mouth.

"So, how was Washington?" Tony asked.

Andi looked over at him, and her mouth fell open slightly. Every emotion she'd been holding back since the day before washed over her like a monstrous wave. She was being pulled into the depths of the darkness, and she could not break free unless she were to break free of her emotional confines. It was as if she'd been given no choice in the matter either. She'd never known true emotion—she hadn't known it in years.

"He hates me," Andi forced out.

Tony glanced over at her. He could see that she was having an internal battle with herself. Andi didn't want to say anything to Tony, but she couldn't help it. Everything was forcing its way out whether she liked it or not. Aside from Pepper, Tony was also the closest thing she had to a parent. She couldn't keep anything from him even if she wanted to.

"Who hates you, Andi?"

"Peter," Andi answered. "All I wanted was to help him and to protect him, but now that's ruined."

This was the first Tony heard about any problem related to Andi's relationship with Peter. It startled him, actually. "Wait, what happened, Andi?"

Andi looked over at Tony with tear-filled eyes. She absolutely hated that a single person had this much of an emotional effect over her. "Washington, we were in Washington. Our friends were in danger, and I knew Peter could handle it, but it's not only his duty to protect people, it's mine too, so that's what I did. I was laying low for the sake of people seeing me, but I was there just in case he needed my help."

"And did he need your help?"

"Not with the initial rescue," Andi told him.

"Then what's wrong?" Tony questioned. "What happened between the two of you that has you in tears?"

Andi wiped her face and looked out of the window. "He fell, and I couldn't just watch it happen, so I did something about it. I caught him before he could hit the ground, and after that he demanded to know who I was, so I told him. I'm sure you can imagine his shock after discovering the girl he's spent majority of the school year with is a gender-bend of his own self that's been watching over him because Tony Stark asked her to."

Tony shrugged. He wasn't quite seeing the problem with Peter finding out about Andi; despite telling her to lay low, he figured it would happen long before the conclusion of the mission. "What's so wrong with him finding out about you, Andi?"

"You're not understanding the situation," Andi grumbled and wiped her face again. "He's hurt and he's angry that I lied to him. He's mad that I kept something like this from him when we're supposed to be such good friends with each other."

"Yeah," Tony muttered. "One might not believe the two of you are just friends with the way you're treating the situation."

Andi glanced over at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means I think you might care a little bit more about Peter than you're letting on," Tony told her.

"No, no, no," Andi shook her head. "He's a friend, we're friends."

"And you're Andi," Tony reminded her. "You never get upset over anything and you most definitely never shed a tear for anyone, or at least you haven't in years. It's okay to admit that you care about him, I won't be mad."

"I care about him, just not in that way." Andi was not only trying to convince Tony of the fact, but she was trying to convince herself as well. It didn't seem to be working very well either.

Tony hummed in disbelief. "You're a liar," he chuckled.

Andi ignored him and looked down at her hands. "He said he didn't need me anymore," she spoke quietly.

Tony glanced over at her. "Andi?"

"He doesn't need me anymore, Tony," she said to him as a few more tears slipped from her eyes.

"You really do care about him, don't you?" Tony questioned the young girl.

"So much that the thought of losing him makes my heart hurt in a way it's never hurt before," Andi practically whispered.

Tony couldn't find the words to say. All he could think about was Andi and the connection she'd built with Peter in such a short amount of time. For years, Andi built walls no human being was capable of breaking down. Everything changed the moment she met Peter Parker, however, and nothing would ever be the same in her life again.