A/N: First off, sorry this has taken so long, life has gotten even crazier lately, but I am doing my best to try to write as much as I can!

Peter stared at me, waiting to hear about my sleepover, I realized with another jolt of surprise that I didn't have only one best friend—Peter had become one too.

Grinning, I began relaying the details of my sleepover, covering my arrival and the beginning of movie night. Then I paused, do I tell him about the weird encounter with Taylor? He noticed my hesitation and gave me a questioning look, "What's up?"

I bit my lip, then just went for it, "There was a bit of an odd moment with Taylor—"

His expression darkened, "Did he make you feel uncomfortable? Does Spidey need to go pay him a visit?!"

I shook my head, "No, no, nothing like that! Actually…" I lowered my voice, "I think he may have been flirting with me."

His eyes widened, "Really!?"

"Hey, don't act so surprised!"

He grinned sheepishly, "Sorry, sometimes I forget people can actually have a chance with their crushes—unlike me."

I narrowed my eyes at him, "What are you talking about? You absolutely have a shot with MJ! The only time I ever see that girl look human is when she's talking with or about you, she likes you just as much as you like her."

"MJ likes me back?"

I laughed at his look of total obliviousness, "Yes, yes, she does. Your only problem there is getting her to admit it, since she's not someone big on sharing her feelings."

He blushed, before refocusing the conversation, "Anyway, we were talking about you."

We ended up going back and forth for awhile talking about Taylor and MJ, discussing why we liked them, and encouraging each other as to why our crushes would like us back. Time flew by, and before we knew it, FRIDAY was interrupting to call us down to dinner.

We obediently washed up and headed to the table.

"Hey guys!" Peter and I chimed in unison taking our seats. Everyone returned our greeting, Uncle Bucky, Nat, and Clint doing so normally, but Dad, Pepper, May, Wanda, and Pietro smiling weirdly at us.

I narrowed my eyes, "What's so amusing?"

Nat shrugged, "I think they're planning some new weird prank game. Just ignore them."

I nodded slowly, doing as she suggested and focusing on my meal. Everyone made small talk around me, the weird behaviour continuing, but I stayed quiet, not feeling like contributing. At one point, I asked Peter to pass me some more potatoes, and though there was absolutely nothing notable about it, I noticed Tony nudging Pepper and Pietro raising his eyebrows at Wanda. May grinned at her beans. Also seeming to notice their odd behaviour, Nat rolled her eyes. Dad noticed my gaze and coughed uncomfortably, turning his focus back to his food.

I put my fork down, sat back in my chair and crossed my arms.

Dad looked uncertainly between me and my mostly uneaten plate of food.

"Are you not hungry?"

"Of course I am."

His brow furrowed, "Then why aren't you eating?"

"Because you're all keeping something secret and I don't like it. You think I don't notice the side glances and the whispers and the nudges? Do you think I can't tell when someone's been talking about me?"

Dad sighed, "You're right, I'm sorry. We were trying to respect your privacy by not bringing it up, and clearly, we did a poor job of pretending we didn't know…so I'm sorry. But if it makes you feel any better, we're absolutely thrilled and you definitely have my blessing."

His contrite expression turned to a beaming smile pointed at Peter briefly before being aimed at me.

I gave him a bewildered look, "What on earth are you talking about? What are you giving me a blessing on? What has you thrilled?"

His grin faltered and he exchanged confused glances with the others at the table. May muttered something indiscernible and Peter turned a bright red.

Dad coughed lightly and asked, "Aren't you and Peter dating?"

I stared at him, blinked, then began laughing at his joke, laughter which trailed off as confused glances were exchanged around the table.

"Omg, you're serious?"

Dad nodded slowly, now looking much more uncertain.

I turned to Peter, who was looking at me with incredulity, around the table, then back at Tony.

"We're not dating—

May raised an eyebrow at a still red-faced Peter who just gave a small squeak and shook his head.

I focused back on Tony, as his eyes narrowed, "Then who exactly is it that you are dating, young lady?"

I shrugged, "Um, no one."

He stared sternly at me. "Don't lie to me."

I crossed my arms, "I'm not."

Aunt Nat coughed and interrupted, "I think there's been a misunderstanding here, guys."

I eyed everyone as I settled back into my chair, "I certainly think so. How on earth did you even come to this conclusion?"

He shifted uncomfortably, "Your earlier conversation with Peter may have been overheard…"

"You were eavesdropping on me!?"

"Not intentionally I swear, I just happened to be walking past and caught snippets of what sounded like you two declaring your interest in each other."

I rolled my eyes, "Noted, gotta make sure the door is closed next time."

"Don't even think about it, young lady, there will be no closed doors for you!"

I pursed my lips stubbornly, using all my will not to lash back out at him in front of everyone. Taking a deep breath and blowing it out, I went to respond, but got caught off by dad switching back to the previous topic,

"So, if you're not dating Peter, why were you talking about…love interests?"

I raised a brow, "I think 'love interest' is a bit strong here, we're in high school, Dad. And so what if we were talking about our crushes?"

I noticed his hand clench tightly before Pepper covered it with her own, casting a nervous glance around the table. I felt a mild pang of regret at ruining her dinner.

Then dad spoke again, in a demanding tone, "Tell me about this crush."

I scoffed lightly, "No. I have a right to my own thoughts. To privacy. It's nothing worth sharing yet anyway, he barely knows I'm alive."

I saw Peter fidget beside me, his friend instinct wanting to contradict my last words, but I sent him a quick glare and he settled back into stillness, eyes wide."

Dad eyed between us, focusing back on me, "I need to know for your own safety. Tell me. Now."

Aaand the anger I'd been pushing down rose back up with a vengeance. Using my last ounce of control, I kept inside. Mostly.

I stood up, scraping my chair back and slamming my fork down onto the table. "No."

I turned to leave, pausing briefly to hiss in Peter's ear, "Tell him nothing or I will drown your suit and Lego with Axe." (This was a pretty strong threat considering Axe was notoriously strong smelling, and with his heightened senses that would be fairly debilitating)

He gave a sharp nod of fear and I stormed off, slamming the door behind me as I went into the private penthouse.

Tony came after me, "Y/N, you get back there right now and finish your dinner!"

Still moving forwards, I responded back with a flat, "No."

Apparently, Uncle Bucky had also followed, as I heard his quieter voice suggest, "Maybe we should just give her some time—"

Dad was not for that idea. A shame really. Instead, he snapped back at Uncle Bucky and started telling him to get out of the penthouse. I didn't hear the rest of the exchange as I had made it around the hallway bend by that point, well on my way to my bedroom.

"Stop walking away from me. We need to discuss this…this crush."

I whirled around to face Tony, "No. No, we don't. Because I refuse to discuss this with you when you're being unreasonable. Go back to dinner and leave me ALONE."

"Unreasonable? And just how am I being unreasonable?"

"Because you're acting like instead of learning I have a crush, you learned that I hang out with drug dealers in sketchy alleys in my spare time."

"The fact that you had that example ready to go makes me think that's something I should be worried about! Let me guess, from the influence of this mystery bad boy!"

"He's not a bad boy!"

"Well, if he's so great, then why won't you tell me who he is?!"

"Because of your reaction!"

He blinked at me from across the hall, "What about my reaction?"

I rolled my eyes, "When you thought I was dating—dating!— Peter, from your eavesdropping, which don't think we're done talking about that either, you seemed really, really happy about it, which is just so weird on so many levels. But the moment you realized that not only was it only a crush, not full-on dating, and that it wasn't Peter, you completely changed your behaviour! Happy, supportive Tony disappeared into unreasonable and angry Tony, upset just at the mere thought of me having a vague interest in someone! Who the hell would want to offer more details to that judgemental person!?"

He crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall, "Okay, fair point, I suppose. But can you blame me for being excited? Peter is a good kid. You know how I know that? Because I know him. Thinking my daughter was interested in a kid I already know, and know to be a good person, is worth being happy about. Going from that to some mystery boy who may or may not be a decent human, especially considering more teenage boys than I'd like to think about likely aren't, well I'd say that's cause for some upset."

I crossed my arms and unintentionally mimicked him by also leaning against the wall. It was so annoying when I could understand where someone was coming from in a fight. I sighed and grumbled, "Fair point…"

He raised an eyebrow, "Truce then?"

I rolled my eyes, "Truce."

He gave me a small smile, "So will you tell me who it is?"

I eyed him carefully, "Only if you promise not to embarrass me with him. Or invade his privacy."