Recluse → Peter Parker

nothing would be the same

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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."