The Stark Trap

~15~

The next day, Melissa woke up to a bowl of candy next to her bed and a note from Peter that said that she shouldn’t have to miss out on Halloween candy. Andi used to wake up to these bowls of candy, but this year, since she was in Malibu, she didn’t and she kind of missed it. 
 
It was Sunday so there wasn’t school today, Andi was able to sleep in. Except she wasn't able to go back to sleep, she kept thinking about Peter. “God damn you Peter…” She whispered to herself, burying her face in her pillow. 
 
She thought about talking to him about it, like her mother said, but she couldn’t… For one, she wasn't one to talk about her feelings, it was hard for her to talk to her mother about it, she certainly wasn’t going to talk about her feelings to the person who the feelings were for. Secondly, she didn’t know if Peter felt the same, just because other people said he did. What if he didn’t feel the same and decided he didn’t want to be her friend anymore because of her feelings… She didn’t think he would ever stop being her friend, it was Peter after all, but she couldn’t help but think about what would happen if he did.
 
Andi thought back to the day she met Peter, in Kindergarten. 
 
~Twelve Years Ago~
 
Four-Year-Old Andi was led into the classroom by her father, she looked around the room and then up at her father. “Do I have to go? Why can’t I stay with Zia Nat and Zio Clint?”
 
Her father knelt down next to her. “Because Zia and Zio are busy, and you need an education”
 
Andi crossed her arms. “I don’t wanna go…”
 
“It’ll be fun and you’ll make friends”
 
The teacher saw them and came over with a smile on her face. “Hello! I’m Miss Lizzie. You must be Andrea-”
 
“Andi,” She corrected. “I’m Andi”
 
“Don’t be rude Andi,” Her father said. He turned to the teacher. “I apologize for her, she’s a handful sometimes”
 
Miss Lizzie waved her hand dismissively. “Don’t apologize, I’ve dealt with many kids like her. Andi, why don’t you go play with some of the other kids while I talk with your father?”
 
Andi didn’t want to, but her father nudged her to go. She went over and sat by one of the bookshelves, pulling a book down and flipping through it. 
 
“That’s my favorite book”
 
Andi looked up to see a little brunette boy with two missing front teeth standing in front of her. She shrugged and went back to looking at “If You Give A Mouse A Cookie’. A couple other kids had come over and tried to talk to her but she ignored them, she didn’t want to make friends. 
 
“My Aunt had to buy it for me because I kept borrowing it from the library.” The boy said, sitting down next to Andi. “I’m Peter”
 
Andi looked up at him. All the other kids that came over to her left after she ignored them the first time, but he didn’t. He stayed… “I’m Andi…”
 
Peter tilted his head to the side. “Andi?”
 
“It’s short for Andrea, but I don't like it. I like Andi”
 
Peter smiled, showing the gaps in his teeth. “I like it, I think it's beautiful.” 
 
“Well I don’t like it” She said, looking back down at her book.
 
Peter made a thinking face. “Andrea…” He shook his head and then smiled. “Drea! That’s my nickname for you. My Drea”
 
Andi looked up at him and couldn’t help but smile. She didn’t mind that nickname too much. 
 
~Present Day~
 
Andi smiled, even then Peter was annoying. But now she actually wanted to be around his annoying and cheesy ass. 
 
Grabbing her phone, she called Peter, hoping that he was awake. He answered a few seconds later, his face appearing on her screen, looking sleepy. “Hey Drea”
 
“Sorry, did I wake you?”
 
He shrugged. “Yeah, but it’s fine. I should be up anyway”
 
“I can call you back later?” She suggested, feeling bad for waking him.
 
He shook his head. “No no, it’s fine Drea. I miss you…”
 
Andi smiled. “I miss you too…”
 
“When do you think you’ll be coming home…?”
 
She shrugged. “I don’t know… Mom doesn't want to talk about Dad or John anymore… I don't know what else we can do…"
 
Peter sighed. "Maybe we should tell them about the switch… Then we might be able to get them in the same state to talk…"
 
"I don't know… I still feel like it's too soon…"
 
"Is there anything else to do but that?" Peter asked. "We found out why they broke up, we found out what actually happened with Christine, you tried to find out if your mother would ever get back together with your father and you tried to find out what was going on with her and John but she wouldn't give you a straight answer about either of those… What else is there?"
 
Andi shrugged. "Maybe I should try and find out more about how she feels about Dad…"
 
"You can try…" Peter's door opened and Andi watched as he looked up over the phone "Morning Liss"
 
"Morning. You on the phone with Andi?"
 
Peter nodded and moved over so that Melissa could sit next to him. "I think we should tell your parents about the switch and try to get them to talk but Andi doesn't agree"
 
Rolling her eyes, Andi sighed. "It just doesn't feel like the right time… I feel like something else needs to be done…"
 
"I agree…" Melissa said.
 
"Maybe you guys are just anxious about how your parents will react to the switch and seeing each other again?" He shrugged. 
 
Melissa sighed. "Maybe… Actually…  I don't know if there's anything else we need to do… Plus, Harley is getting suspicious"
 
"Is he? What did he say?" Peter asked. 
 
"Last night he said that something was different about me and that he was going to find out what"
 
Andi rolled her eyes. "Harley is an idiot, he won't find out anything anytime soon"
 
Peter ran a hand through his hair. "Maybe we should tell them, or at least try and get them together. If Harley does find it out, we don't want him blabbing to Mr. Stark."
 
"Right…" Melissa sighed. "I'm bored, do you want to go somewhere?" She asked Peter. 
 
He raised an eyebrow. "Coffee?"
 
Nodding, Melissa left to go get dressed. Andi stuck out her bottom lip in mock sadness. "I miss going to get coffee with you"
 
Peter got out of bed and stripped off his shirt, much like Andi had on that one facetime when she changed in front of him. "I miss it too"
 
Andi couldn't help but look at Peter's body. She had noticed once before that he was ripped when he shoved the phone in his shirt to hide it from someone, but she didn't get a good look. She wondered if he was ripped because he was Spider-Man or if he secretly worked out…
 
"Andi!"
 
Andi snapped out of her thoughts and looked up at him. "Sorry what?"
 
Peter looked at her concerned. "You okay?"
 
"Yeah, I was just thinking," She lied. She could tell he didn't believe her but he didn't want to push it. "What were you saying before?"
 
"I asked you if you wanted to stay on facetime when we went to get coffee?"
 
She nodded. "Sure"
 
Smiling, Peter nodded and went to go find Melissa. They went to get coffee and hung out at the coffee shop for a few hours, talking about everything but the plan. They spent way too much talking about the plan over the past week or so, they didn't want to talk about it anymore, at least right now.
 
When they got home, it was around seven for Melissa and Peter, it didn't seem like it was that late to them but apparently they spent around four hours at the coffee shop. 
 
The two teens hung out upstairs, still on facetime with Andi. 
 
"You know, I thought that somehow someone would have figured everything out by now," Peter said. "About the switch" He clarified.
 
Melissa nodded. "I kind of did too. I thought that one of us would fail at being the other twin and either Mom or Dad would catch us…"
 
Andi shrugged. "I believed in us. I also believe that my father is an idiot and wouldn't tell the difference. And we're absolutely bosses at being each other"
 
Peter laughed, shaking his head. "I swear Drea. What am I going to do with you?"
 
Smirking, Andi shrugged again. "I don't know but you're stuck with me forever"
 
Peter smiled. "Gladly…" He whispered.
 
Melissa opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by the front door slamming downstairs.
 
“ANDREA MARIE STARK! GET YOUR FUCKING ASS DOWNSTAIRS NOW!”
 
All of the teens' eyes widened and Melissa looked at Peter. “What happened? What did I do?” 
 
“It might not have been something you did…” Peter said. “It could be something Andi did before she left and he just now found out about it…”
 
Andi sighed. “Whatever it is, he is really pissed about it. He never uses my full first name with my last name. Like if he’s mad at something stupid I did he’ll say Andi Stark or Andrea Marie, sometimes Andi Marie. He never uses all three names… The last time he did was when I got my nose piercing”
 
“Whatever it is, you better go see before he gets even angrier.” Peter said, looking at Melissa sympathetically. Andi was used to being yelled at by Tony, Melissa wasn’t. 
 
Nodding, Melissa hung up with Andi and went downstairs. Her father was standing in the living room, looking as pissed as he had sounded. He was sitting on the arm of one of the chairs with his arms crossed, glaring at her as she walked down the stairs. “Uh… Hi Dad… What’s up…?”
 
“Don’t ‘what’s up’ me! Why am I hearing that you went to talk to Christine Everhart?!” He yelled standing up. “What were you doing talking to her!”
 
Melissa flinched at the yelling. She had never been yelled at before, especially like this. “I- She’s been asking for an interview and I got annoyed and just wanted her to stop, I thought if I gave her the interview then she’d stop…” Melissa’s voice was quiet and un-Andi-like. She knew she needed to act like Andi, and she was trying, but she was rattled from being yelled at, it was like she couldn't do anything else. 
 
“I DON’T GIVE A SHIT IF SHE KEPT BOTHERING YOU ABOUT IT! I TOLD YOU TO NEVER SPEAK TO HER! I TOLD YOU THAT IF SHE KEPT ASKING ABOUT THE INTERVIEW TO TELL ME AND LET ME HANDLE IT!” He walked forward and Melissa stepped back, slightly scared. “I know for a fact, that you didn’t go there for the interview. You went there because I told you that she was the woman I had slept with when your mother left me! That’s why you went looking for her wasn’t it? You went to talk to her about it?!”
 
Melissa didn’t know what to say, she opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. 
 
“Well?!” Tony yelled, throwing his hands up. “Do you not have any excuses or anything?! Nothing?!”
 
“I-I’m sorry…” Melissa said quietly, looking down at her feet. She was acting the opposite that Andi would, but Tony didn’t seem to notice.
 
After hearing all the yelling, Peter came down the stairs and put his hand on Melissa’s shoulder. “Mr. Stark, don’t take it out on Andi. Going to Christine Everhart was my idea, I wanted to know the other side of the story…”
 
Tony raised an eyebrow at him. “You really expect me to believe that kid? I know you both too well, it wasn’t your idea, you probably tried to talk her out of it. Now go upstairs and let me talk to my kid”
 
Peter shook his head. “I’m not going to let you yell at her like this, she just wanted to know more about why her parents broke up.” He grabbed Melissa’s hand and started to pull her up the stairs but Tony grabbed her other arm, pulling her back down the stairs. 
 
Melissa winced in pain and nearly tripped on the last step. “You’re hurting me…”
 
Tony loosened his grip but didn’t let go. “I didn’t mean to but you’re not going anywhere. I want to know exactly what you talked to Chrstine about and what she told you!” When Melissa didn’t say anything Tony tightened his grip on her arm. “Andrea!”
 
“I’m not Andi!” Melissa yelled, speaking louder than she had the entire time he had been yelling at her. “I’m Melissa!”