A/N: There's like zero fanfics out there about the Daniel-Andi friendship. And even though the show mentions their friendship from time to time, they still barely interact on there. I mean, they apparently have been friends for the longest time (since kindergarten at least!), so come on! To satisfy myself, I wrote this. It's actually been sitting on my computer for almost a whole year, until now that I decided to publish it.
Seeing Emma cuddling, laughing, smiling, doing, well, anything with, ugh, Jax broke Daniel's heart. Every single freaking time. He made a completely idiotic mistake and broke up with Emma, but right when he realized his mistake and planned on apologizing to Emma, he saw them in the school hallway together, hugging and...kissing. A cold chill swept through his body at the thought.
He knew he and Emma were still friends, although their friendship was a bit awkward and strained now. But hanging out with her pained him, because they were just friends, and nothing more. And then there's the fact that it was dang near impossible for him to try to get back with Emma with Jax always around watching Daniel's every move like a hawk. Well, if Jax wasn't so afraid of birds. Oh the irony.
So, cross Emma off the list of people he could hang with. At least until he got her back.
Hey, he could always hang with Diego right? The loyal, old best friend he can lean on? Wrong. Ever since he fell head over heels for Maddie, which Daniel couldn't quite comprehend, Diego was always gone. At least back when Daniel was still dating Maddie, during what he liked to term the "Dark Ages", he didn't spend all of his time with Maddie. Too much of Maddie is definitely too much.
And then of course Mac and Tony had moved away, so he couldn't hang with them either.
What about Gigi? He laughed at the thought, it was positively hilarious. Nope, not going to happen ever in a million years. She would just spend the whole time blogging and gossiping. And probably draping all over him. He cringed.
It was then that Daniel realized his last resort was Andi. Well, not exactly his last resort, there were the Panthers…but no way was he going to find himself hanging with them. He shuddered. It's not that the Panthers were bad, but well…uh… Yep, Andi was much better than the Panthers. She was cool, fun, anti-Panther, anti-Jax, not love-sick, and definitely not awkward.
Besides, they used to hang out all the time when they were kids. So why not?
At school, he ran up to her once he saw that Jax and Emma had left. He didn't want to be around them and face yet another unwanted, awkward situation. He cleared his throat. "Hey Andi."
Andi looked up from rummaging in her backpack. "Oh, 'sup Daniel."
"So…I was wondering, did you want to come over and play Zombie Apocalypse with me later today?" The words quickly tumbled out of his mouth.
"Who else is gonna be there?"
"Er, no one."
"Uh…so just you? And me?" Andi questioned suspiciously.
"Yeah." Then Daniel realized that it probably sounded like he was asking her out, which was definitely not what he wanted, so he quickly added, "No, it's not a date or anything!" and shook his head for emphasis.
Andi raised an eyebrow, smirking. "I didn't think that you were asking me on a date."
"Oh." Daniel looked at the floor and flushed in embarrassment.
"I was just asking 'cause, you know, it's been a while since just the two of us hung out."
"Well," he glanced back up at Andi, "do you want to hang out?"
"Uhm..." Andi trailed off. Did Daniel actually want to hang out with her? Just her? Sure they were close friends and teammates, but they usually did things with other people. As in Emma. Or Diego. Or both. It's been years since they last did anything without Emma or Diego. She contemplated declining, seeing that it might not be as fun hanging out with just Daniel, but then again he was asking her to play Zombie Apocalypse, her favorite video game in like ever. And well, maybe they needed a break from Emma and Diego.
"Sure. I'll see you later then?"
Daniel grinned. "Yeah, later. My house."
When Andi had arrived at Daniel's house, they immediately plopped down on his couch and played, with their eyes glued to the television and their hands glued to the game controllers. They weren't doing much talking, but Daniel was just happy he found someone to hang out with. And Andi, well, Andi was in heaven playing the best video game ever. It's not every day she gets to play, especially when with Emma.
Two hours later, when they realized their thumbs were indeed very sore, they took a break. They promptly opened two bags of chips and began stuffing their mouths.
"We really need to do this more often. Emma never lets me play Zombie Apocalypse at her place," Andi said in between mouthfuls of chips.
Daniel's shoulders drooped a little at the mention of his ex, but he quickly brightened up. "Yeah. I forgot how fun it was to hang out with you."
"Uh, duh." She wiped at her mouth with the back of her hand. "Which reminds me, any particular reason you wanted to hang out all of a sudden, like, just the two of us?"
"Uhh…" Daniel hesitated. Should he tell her he was feeling lonely and depressed and come off as a completely desperate loser?
Andi rolled her eyes. "Come on Danny boy, just tell me."
"Fine! I was feeling lonely and wanted someone to hang with! Don't judge." Daniel looked down into his bag of chips, feeling slightly embarrassed.
Andi stared at Daniel for a few seconds, then suddenly burst out laughing. "You were feeling lonely? That's it? With that expression on your face, I thought someone died or something. But loneliness is your reason? Oh, my, gosh. That is just so…so…adorable! And sad! You sound like some pathetic little puppy whose owner left him, but for like only two minutes!" She started talking in a baby voice, "Aw Daniel, aren't you a cute wittle puppy! Yes you are!" She continued cooing in his face.
Any trace of self-respect that he still had left just flew out the window.
"Hey! I said, don't judge!"
"Daniel, captain of the swim team and soccer team, basically Mr. Popular, is all sad and alone and has come begging for Andi Cruz's companionship! I just can't handle this new information anymore." By this time Andi had rolled off the couch onto the ground, still hooting with laughter.
Daniel looked at Andi spazzing around on the ground and sighed. "Are you done yet?"
In response, Andi continued to literally roll on the floor laughing for a few more seconds. Eventually, she stopped and struggled to compose herself. "Yeah, yeah, I'm done. Wait…," she let out a few snorts and said something that sounded distinctly like "what a loser" before she finally settled down. "Now I'm done."
"Good to see that my loneliness was so funny to you."
"What? Is it my fault that your sad life is so hilarious?" Daniel glared at her. "Ok geez, I'm sorry. But you do have other friends you can hang out with you know. Diego and Emma? Remember them? I know you're awkward and all but it's not that hard to ask them to hang out if you're feeling so lonely."
Awkward? Did she say I was awkward? Daniel shook his head and decided to just ignore her comment. "First, Diego is always busy with Maddie." Oh yeah, Andi found that really difficult to comprehend. Why on earth would Diego willingly want to be around Maddie? The only logical answer was that Maddie was controlling him with magic. Yep, that's it.
...she so needs to ask Emma to do mind control one day.
"And Emma's with Jax… who hates my guts. So, I decided I want to hang out with you. Just like old times." He shrugged a little at the end.
"Well, as flattered as I am, this is still pathetic. You seriously need to find more friends!"
"Says the girl whose best friend is a book."
Andi gasped. "Don't you talk that way about Hex!"
"Come on, is hanging with me that horrible?"
"Yeah." Andi tried to keep a straight face, but couldn't help the way her mouth slightly curved upwards. Darn you, smile.
"Psh, yeah, sure. I guess you'll just have to find someone else to play Zombie Apocalypse with if I'm so bad…," Daniel said tauntingly as he stood up, preparing to put the video game away.
"No!" Daniel turned around, cocking one eyebrow up in amusement at Andi's outburst. She huffed out a sigh and raised her hands in surrender. "Fine, you're not that bad. Can we continue now? We still haven't reached the expert levels yet!"
Daniel grinned triumphantly. "Say I'm the awesomest person you've ever met and that I'm totally not pathetic."
"Dude…" Andi said threateningly.
"Dude…" Daniel mocked, his confident self returning.
"Ughhhhhh. Fine. You're the awesomest person I've ever met and you're totally not pathetic," Andi mumbled quietly.
"What was that?"
Andi glared at Daniel menacingly. "I already said it once, I am not saying it again!"
Daniel quickly handed Andi her game controller, for fear she might take out her chainsaw and use it on him. "Alright, here." Andi happily snatched the controller from his hands and immediately faced the television screen. Daniel grinned at her once again before also turning his head towards the screen to resume the game.
Ten minutes later, after Andi practically saved him by shooting down the zombies about to devour his brain, Daniel nudged her shoulder and said, "You know what, Andi? You just might be my new best friend."
"Shhhhh, your loudness is ruining my concentration."
A/N: This is my first fanfic, so please review? Much appreciated!