A/N: GUESS WHOSE SEMESTER FINISHES TOMORROWWWW. THATS RIGHT ITS MEEEEEE IM DONEEEE WITH HIGH SCHOOLL FOREVERRRRR but i cant go to my own graduation lol so whatever. also tomorrow is my physics final and im def gonna fail so

the stupid adults divided our graduation in half based on last name so i cant graduate with my friends but it doesn't matter cause im not even going so. never thought my high school would end like this. but then everyone basically rioted and then it got pushed back to june. just goes to show how unpredictable life is. and now there's murder hornets here in the us???

i cant tell if this is mother nature laughing at us or if the world is just about to end.

either way, here's the new chapter! and it's twice as long as usual! :)

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"Don't play dumb, Tony.

You know this is all your fault."
————————————————————

Tony was tired.

Of everything.

He sighed, running a hand down his face. He rested his elbow on side of the car door and pinched the bridge of his nose. He hated yelling at the kid. But what he had done was obviously punishable...right? He didn't know how to do this mentor thing. In his defense, his father hadn't exactly laid out the best example to follow.

He glanced over at the suit sitting on the car seat beside him.

I just wanted to be like you.

You don't understand. Please.

This is all I have. I'm nothing without this suit.

Tony exhaled, closing his eyes. He felt a headache beginning behind his eyes. Was it supposed to be this hard? He had done the right thing...hadn't he? He felt terrible about it even though he knew he shouldn't. The billionaire ran his tongue over his teeth in frustration, looking out the window of the car as city sped by him.

The Blue Phantom. She was here.

Tony didn't know what was right or wrong anymore. Had he done the right thing when he pushed Adie away?

He just...He needed someone to tell him he was doing the right thing, making the right decisions even if they were hard. He needed someone who could understand what he was going through. Someone who would just listen. What he needed was his Adie so she could wrap her arms around him and hold him like she used to before.

What did you do when the person you needed was the person you had pushed away?

Suddenly, his phone rang in his blazer and he fished it out, blocking out his depressing thoughts. He didn't need everyone who ever called him to know how depressed he was. But this time, it was only Pepper.

"I'm gonna guess you saw the news," he sighed.

"When were you going to tell me?"

"I didn't know we were sharing things now. Are we on a talking basis? In that case, I finished a bottle of Chateau Margaux last night while watching reruns of Miami Vice in my hotel room. Still a little hungover. Your turn."

"I know we have our differences, but you know Adelaide has always been more important than that."

"Differences? Is that what we're calling it?" Tony asked, shifting in his seat.

"Tony."

"She's fine. I told Happy to give her a call."

Pepper sighed, "I don't understand why you're still putting up this act. Why don't you just call her yourself?"

"I'm not that hungover," he mumbled, looking out the window again.

The sun had almost set behind the skyline of the city. If things were like old times, Adie would have dragged him out to sit on the balcony with her and watch the sun set. He might have complained back then, but now he wished he had taken those moments and enjoyed them while they had lasted.

He realized he sounded like an absolute hypocrite when he said that. He was the reason she wasn't here with him now. It wasn't like he could blame the universe or his old man for this. She wasn't here because he didn't know if he could still stand to look at her after having watched her kill his parents. Not only that, but she had known and she didn't tell him.

How long had she known the truth? Was it since she had walked through the door of the Tower that day two years ago? Had everything been an elaborate lie? Had she ever even really loved him? Or was it just an act? These unanswered questions had been spinning around his mind for months now.

She said we should work together and I trusted her because you trusted her, the kid had said.

The point here was that he couldn't trust her anymore.

And maybe he never should have.

"Did she get hurt?" Pepper asked. Tony snapped back into the conversation.

"I don't know," he shrugged carelessly, chewing on his lip, "Don't care."

"You asked Happy to call her."

A pause. Then, "Doesn't mean I care. Happy's the one who cares so much. It was for his own consolation. You know he's a sensitive guy."

"Don't lie to yourself, Tony. It won't end well."

"You called me, didn't you?" he said sharply, irritated.

There was a silence on the other end of the line. Tony sighed, looking down at his lap. He began bouncing his knee in frustration. He ran his tongue over his front teeth again and then he closed his eyes.

"I'm just trying to do what's best," he said quietly, "It's all I can do anymore."

"I know you are," Pepper said softly after a moment, "But you know better than anyone Tony, the best choices are always the hardest."

"I know..." he said, suddenly feeling exhausted. Wasn't that what he had wanted to hear? Then why didn't he feel reassured?

"...I know."

—————

Peter walked down the hallway to his apartment, wearing his replacement clothes which consisted of pink Hello Kitty pajamas and a tourist shirt. His suit was long gone.

He stopped in front of his door and sighed. Then, he lifted his hand up and knocked quietly. Only a second later, May answered.

"Hey," he whispered.

May inhaled sharply and marched back inside, turning her back to him.

"I've been calling you all day. You didn't answer your phone. You can't do that. Then this ferry thing happens. I've called five police stations," she said, nearly shouting towards the end. Her voice was shaky. Peter dragged himself inside the apartment, closing the door behind himself.

He stared at the carpet.

"Five. I called five of your friends," May said. She had been restless because of this boy for hours.

"I'm fine," he mumbled so quietly that he doubted May even heard over her anger.

"I called Ned's mother," she continued, her voice still shaky.

"May, I'm okay. Honestly. Just relax. I'm fine," he mumbled, barely hearing himself. His mind was elsewhere.

May finally snapped out of it and turned to face him.

"You. Cut the bullshit," she snapped, "I know you left detention. I know you left the hotel room in Washington. I know you sneak out of this house every night. That's not fine. Peter, you have to tell me what's going on. Just lay it out. It's just me and you."

For a moment, the apartment was silent.

When Peter looked up from the floor at her, his eyes were brimmed with tears.

"I lost the Stark internship," he whispered.

"What?" May frowned, her shoulders sagging.

"Yeah," he mumbled, looking away in shame.

"What happened?" she asked, stepping closer. Of all the things, she had not been expecting this.

"I just thought that I could work really hard and he could, he would, you know," he said, his voice cracking, "But I screwed it up."

He sat down on the sofa, staring at the floor again as the tears began to spill over. Sighing, May wrapped her arms around him, gently rubbing his back.

"Oh...It's okay, it's okay. It's okay," she whispered, holding him close. He sniffled, trying to hold down more tears.

"I'm sorry I made you worry," he cried quietly.

"You know I'm not trying to ruin your life," she said, still rubbing his back to calm him down.

"Yeah, I know," he sniffled.

"Just...I used to sneak out too," she said.

"Yeah," he whispered. There was a beat of silence. Then May pulled back to sniff his hair.

"And take a shower. You smell. You smell like garbage," she frowned. Peter sighed.

"I know," he mumbled. He pulled himself away from May's arms and stood up, dragging himself toward the bathroom.

"You don't happen to know where Adelaide is, do you? I've called her ten times and she hasn't picked up."

Peter stopped. He half glanced over his shoulder and then sighed. Did he know where she was? No. Did he know that she was okay? Yes.

"No," he mumbled tiredly, "But she's fine."

—————

Adelaide was curled up on her couch, blankly staring at the news about the ferry on the tv as they played on.

She wasn't paying attention. Her thoughts were consumed with Tony.

Tony. Tony. Tony.

He had been there. On the ferry. She had been that close to him for the first time in literally months. God, she missed him. She missed him like hell. He had been so much in her life. Her father, a friend, a mentor...everything.

And now he was a stranger.

The tv began playing the footage of the ship breaking in half. It looked like someone had taken the video from the docks. She sighed heavily, closing her eyes and leaning her head back on the couch.

It had been partly her fault. She knew she shouldn't have messed with these things. Hell, she didn't even want to use her suit in the first place. Ever since Happy had given it to her, she had been hesitant to use it. But when Peter had left the hotel that night, she knew had to use it.

Only, she had forgotten that everything she touched always ended in disaster.

This time, the disaster had been the ferry.

She could only imagine how hard Peter was taking it. He had even tried to web the ferry back together, she recalled as the tv played a clip of that moment. If she knew him at all, he was blaming himself for it.

Adelaide was honestly worried for him. She didn't want him getting himself hurt in the midst of all this. That was half the reason she had been following this whole time, even if she would never admit that to his face. She shifted her position on the couch. She wished they could put this whole argument behind them so she could just call him and they could have a normal conversation like before. She missed him like hell. As much as she pretended to be angry at him, she deep down wanted to make things go back to the way they were.

Ever since she had found out that he was Spider-Man, things had made a lot more sense. After that field trip, everything had changed between them. He became more distant. And when Ben died, it was like he changed completely. He almost became...older. He lost that childishness he used to have.

She missed that. She missed him.

She wanted her old Peter back.

Adelaide looked up, noticing that Peter was grinning at her.

"What?"

"Do you have a class with me, because we got Chemistry."

Adelaide laughed lightly, shaking her head.

"Pete...that was so terrible," she said.

"What do you call a factory that sells good products?" She rolled her eyes, biting back another smile.

"Do I want to know?"

He grinned.

"A satisfactory," he said.

"Seriously, stop," Adelaide said, laughing.

"What do you call a sleeping dinosaur?" he asked and she shrugged. "A dino-snore."

Adelaide laughed again, feeling her cheeks starting to hurt, but she didn't mind at all.

"What did one snowman say to the other snowman?" She looked at him, a bright smile on her face.

"What?"

"It smells like carrots," he said and they both laughed, looking at each other. Peter stopped laughing, settling for a smile. He pushed his glasses up.

"Did that help?" he asked.

"What?" she asked.

"I made you laugh, do you feel better?" For some reason, the smile wouldn't leave her face.

"Yeah," she said quietly, "thanks Pete."

She wondered if he missed her. Probably not. He had so many other people in his life beside her. He wasn't the one living by himself with no one to talk to.

But he was the one person in her life who could understand and he was the one person she couldn't call. She sighed heavily. Even if she did decide to step past their argument, there was no way he would forgive her. As much as she wanted him to. They would never be the same again.

She couldn't understand why she cared so much anyway. Things had been over between them for months now.

So why was she still thinking about him then?

She sighed again. There was no use thinking about this again. It never led her anywhere useful.

Suddenly, she remembered something.

Just before the Vulture (as the media were labeling him) had attacked them with his wings, Peter had given her something, but with all the chaos happening around them, she never got a chance to actually see what it was. She reached over to her bag on the floor, pulling out her suit and fishing around for it. Finally, her hand wrapped around the device.

Adelaide pulled it out, tossing her suit back into the bag.

She studied the small device in her hand with a frown. It was the size of a water bottle cap and in the shape of a black spider. There was a tiny red button under the body of the spider that she was tempted to press, but she didn't know if it would blow up her apartment or something worse. She sighed.

Her gaze drifted to the news.

The Vulture and the Sandman were both working together. They were dealing those weapons together. But why? Why were they working together all of a sudden? What were they hiding? Adelaide needed to find out before it was too late and something worse than the ferry happened. She wished Wanda or Vision or Nat were here. They would know exactly what to do. And they would still be here for her, despite everything. Especially Nat. Adelaide missed the woman badly.

Suddenly, her phone began ringing from the kitchen counter where she had left it.

Exhaling and throwing the little spider into her bag, she pushed herself off the couch and crossed the two-pace distance to the kitchen. Her eyes ran over the caller ID. Happy. She sighed, turning away and running a hand down her face in frustration. She had expected this after today's events.

She declined the call, heading back to the couch.

Not even two seconds later, it began ringing again. Adelaide closed her eyes before slowly turning around and glaring at her phone. Couldn't he take a hint? She marched back to her phone and declined it again. She stared at her reflection in the black screen for a moment, daring it to ring again. Nothing. Good.

With another sigh, she walked back to her spot on the couch, curling up with a pillow to cover her legs. She rested her head on the back, watching the news with a frown. They were showing the same two clips over and over. She wasn't even in them. It was just Peter and Tony. Spider-Man and Iron Man.

Adelaide didn't understand how Tony had figured out Peter was Spider-Man or for how long he'd known. She didn't even know that the billionaire knew who Peter was, despite their friendship. Tony wasn't really one to pay attention to her friends — he still called Ned Neddie. The first time she saw Tony and Peter together was at the airport in Germany. And then, of course, she never got a chance to ask him how he had known. She couldn't ask Peter without giving herself away. Not that it mattered. She doubted Peter would have told her the truth anyway.

Adelaide's eyes flickered to the clock above the tv. She should probably try to get some sleep if she was going to figure out this Vulture, Sandman deal tomorrow. With a yawn, she switched the tv off and walked two paces in the other direction to her mattress on the floor, which she called a bed for sanity's sake. Her back had definitely seen better days.

Turning off the lamp and making sure the front door was locked, she slipped under her covers.

As soon as her head hit the pillow, her phone began ringing again.

She groaned into the mattress. The teenager covered her ears with her pillow in attempt to drown out the noise until it stopped.

But it didn't.

It kept ringing and ringing and ringing until Adelaide realized the stubborn man was not going to stop until she picked up. So, just when she had been getting comfortable (as comfortable as you could possibly get in a broken mattress on the floor), she stood up again and dragged herself back to the kitchen.

She snatched the phone off the countertop and answered it.

"What?" she snapped.

"Hello to you too," Happy said, "Just calling to check in."

"Just get to the point, Happy," she mumbled, rubbing her temple.

"You messed up," he said plainly, "What happened?"

"It was an accident," she sighed, "We didn't know he was going to actually have the weapons on him there."

"Tony took the kid's suit away."

"Wait— seriously? It was a little mishap. Besides, it was a very serious deal and—"

"I know you think you can handle this, but you're still too young for this. Lay low for a while."

"Did you just call me to lecture me?"

"I called you to tell to not use your suit anymore. Like I said, lay low for a bit. Let the adults handle this."

Adelaide paused, realizing something. She leaned against the kitchen counter, frowning.

"Happy...how do you know I was there? I'm not in the news."

"The kid told Tony."

"Tony was really there?" she breathed, "In his suit?"

"Of course."

She couldn't believe it. He really had been there. Not just his suit.

"He was the one who told me to call you and make sure things were okay."

Her emotions deflated.

"But he didn't call me himself?" she frowned.

"He's a busy man, Adelaide. You know how it is," Happy said after a moment. She sighed, dropping her head. She closed her eyes. Of course. She need to stop getting her hopes up over every little thing. Of course Tony didn't care. She knew Happy was just saying that to make her feel better.

"You don't have to lie, Happy. I get it."

"No, really. He was worried about you. So I called you for him."

"Listen, I have to go," she mumbled tiredly. Things hadn't changed. She was still a screwup. And to him, she would always just be the girl who killed his parents.

"Adelaide wait—"

That night, she had a very restless sleep.

—————

Tony was in a hospital.

Some doctors and nurses who passed by him gave him dark looks while others were sympathetic. The billionaire was standing in the middle of the hall, confused.

Suddenly, he saw Happy walking towards him.

"Happy– Happy what is going on?" Tony asked stopping him, "Why am I here?" It was then that Tony noticed that Happy's eyes were rimmed red and the look on his face was nothing short of furious.

"Don't play dumb, Tony. You know this is all your fault," he said. Tony grew even more confused.