I laid on my bed, staring sightlessly up at the ceiling. God, how had my life come to this. The last time I'd had a crush, Mom and I had curled up on the couch together with mugs of tea and I had happily spilled all the details. When I talked about it with Peter, I had foolishly thought I could carry over the vibe to this new life.

But then everything had gone down over dinner, and when I finally told Tony who it was, he had just gone quiet—a first for him—, turned mildly grey, gave a sharp nod of acknowledgement and lot of "mmhmms". Then he'd dragged me back to the dinner table, where everyone carried on clearly awkward conversations while trying to not address what had just happened. Peter had sat there, giving me nervous side glances, clearly still afraid of my Axe threat. I'd given him a few reassuring smiles, which had switched to glaring at others when they started nudging each other again.

Once the food had been cleared away, Tony had coughed, placed his folded hands on the table, and gone, "So, Y/N isn't dating anyone, but she does have a crush, and no it isn't on Peter—"

I'd glared at him then, and he'd made a zipper motion on his mouth, "And that is all I'm allowed to say about it."

But of course, that couldn't be the end of it with these people. No, of course not. Everyone had then proceeded to try and grill me into revealing who my crush was. Of course, the more they pushed, the more my stubborn streak dug in and refused to tell them anything. When they finally accepted that they weren't going to get answers, they instead switched to barraging me with reasons why I should like Peter, and 'omghowCUTEwouldthatbeifwegottogether!' Peter sat there trying to melt into his chair until May took pity on him and took him home. Lucky. I had to sit there for another half hour of them talking at me.

I guess Uncle Bucky, who had been sitting there in silence the whole time, felt bad for me, and cleared his own throat—cutting off Pietro in the process— and suggested perhaps we leave the matter alone since I clearly didn't want to be there.

Nat went to argue against him and I used the brief distraction from myself to ease out of my chair and bolt to my bedroom. I had locked the door, turned my radio to full blast, and had been laying here, staring at the ceiling ever since. Frankly, I was surprised Tony hadn't reached out in some capacity, at the very least to tell me to turn the music down. Or to tell me to go to bed.

My phone dinged and I looked over at it, perking up when I saw it was from Taylor.

Taylor: How's that boring pile of homework going?

Y/N: Haha…not very well, got distracted by the Avengers losing their minds over the idea of Peter and I dating (we're not, but they seem to think we should be). I should probably actually start that soon though

I immediately regretted mentioning the Peter thing, not helped at all by the long pause before Taylor answered.

Taylor: …Did they convince you?

And isn't it a bit late to be starting homework?

Y/N: Oh, definitely not. Peter's awesome, but he's more like a brother to me. And please, you should know as well as I do that when it comes to high school, no hour is too late to start homework

We chatted a bit more, though I wasn't sure if I was imagining the awkwardness or if there really was some kind of underlying tension going on, and I kept thinking he was going to ask me out. I was also wondering if I should bring up that moment in the kitchen this morning, where I'd thought for a moment that he was going to kiss me. But I couldn't get the nerve to do it.

I laughed to myself, wondering what Peter would have said if I'd told him that part. But I'd refrained, fairly certain the over-protective brother side of him would have reared its head instead of the gossipy bff side of him I'd been conversing with. And I certainly hadn't told Dad about it. Keeping him as oblivious as possible was going to be very important here.

Speaking of the devil, I had to cut my texting conversation short with Taylor a moment later when my music suddenly faded away and there was a knock on my door.

I opened the door and Dad was standing there, hands in his pockets, "Sorry to interrupt your music…but it's getting late, time for bed."

I rolled my eyes, and he raised a finger in the air, shaking it slightly, "None of that. Or I'll retract the peace offering I also come bearing."

I moved aside to let him in, "What's this peace offering?"

"Barnes and I talked for a bit after the others left, shocking I know, and he solidified something I was already thinking. It's a pretty busy house around here, what with all the Avengers and others coming and going, and many of those people like to stick their noses into everyone else's business. So, barring any massive homework assignments or Avengers situations, I figure that next weekend you could probably use a break away from it all."

I furrowed my brow, "Isn't there some big S.I. conference that you have to attend then?"

His fist clenched and unclenched and he let out a sigh, "Yes, which is why you will be going… with… Barnes."

I stared at him for a moment, not comprehending. And then it sunk in and I launched myself at him with a squeal, wrapping my arms around his neck, "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, Dad! You're the best!"

He hugged me back, his chin resting briefly on my shoulder, "You're welcome, Pumpkin."

I leaned back, eying him intently. He definitely looked anything but thrilled with this arrangement, I tilted my head slightly, "Are you sure you're okay with this, though? With the way you feel about him…"

He sucked air in through his teeth, "Well, let's just say you've made a few good points about him…and we've all been getting along…and I think it will do you good, which is the main factor…and of course, I will still be taking several precautions—"

There it was. I nodded with grudging acceptance, and gave him another quick hug, "I expected nothing less."

He gave me a relieved smile, "Thanks for understanding, Pumpkin. Now, off to bed?"

I nodded again, fighting back a yawn, "Yeah, I think that's a good idea. Goodnight, Dad."

He pressed a kiss to my forehead, "Goodnight, Y/N."

Closing the door behind him, I got ready and crawled into bed, thinking over everything that had happened that day. Waking up at Rose's. Flirting (!?) with Taylor, almost getting kissed (!?) by Taylor, the Avengers sticking their noses in my personal life, telling Dad about Taylor, and now learning I was going to get to spend a whole weekend with my uncle.

I wondered what we would do, and I fell asleep trying to come up with ideas.

The weekend came quicker than I thought, and Saturday morning, 7am, I was packed and ready to go, waiting in the public penthouse living room. Dad was pacing, giving all sorts of last-minute instructions, "Remember, the bracelet cannot come off without a code from me. It's waterproof and all that, so there's no reason for it to come off. It will track your heart rate, oxygen levels, etc. FRIDAY will get notified if there are any concerning vitals. It also has a tracker in it, so I can check in on where you are at all times. The bracelet has video and audio recording capabilities. Green jewel records both. Press once for audio only, twice for video only, three times for both. Anything goes wrong, you press the red jewel. That's the emergency button. It alerts FRIDAY, Peter, myself, and all local authorities. The yellow jewel is for if something dangerous seems to be going down, but it's not an immediate threat. The white is if you feel uncomfortable. Yellow and white just alert FRIDAY and myself. Press the blue jewel to give a verbal note if you can for any of those. Any of the notification buttons will also send a record of all your vitals and locations for the past hour, and will begin recording audio and video. Got it?"

Resisting the urge to roll my eyes, I simply nodded, "Got it, Dad. And the pink button is the "I'm still okay" which I will try to remember to press at regular intervals."

"Thank you, Y/N. And you have your phone, back up phone, phone charger, and the back up power banks? The credit card I gave you?"

I nodded again. I still couldn't believe he was letting me leave alone with Uncle Bucky.

FRIDAY's voice spoke from above, "Mr. Barnes has arrived."

Dad inhaled sharply, pivoted in his pacing and came over to me, placing trembling hands on my shoulders. "You'll be fine. You'll have a safe, good time, and you'll come back perfectly fine."

I reached up to cover his hands with mine, squeezing gently, "Exactly."

The doors opened and Uncle Bucky shuffled in, hands in his coat pockets and a slightly hesitant expression on his face, "All set?"

I stared at dad, squeezing his hands again, as I answered Uncle Bucky, "Yup."

I let go of Tony's hands and he pulled me in for a hug, kissing the top of my head as he held me tightly. "Love ya, kid."

I smiled, "Love you too, Dad. I'll be back before you know it."

I felt a shaky exhale of breath against my hair, before he pulled away, stepping back. I followed him slightly, reaching up to kiss his cheek, with a meaningful, "Thank you."

He gave me a heavy smile and I smiled back, before heading over to Uncle Bucky with my bags. Uncle Bucky quickly took them from me, looking over at Dad and giving a polite smile and a sharp nod of acknowledgement. "I'll bring her back safe, Tony."

Dad crossed his arms, eyes still following me like he wished he could cancel the whole thing, "You better, Barnes."

I gave Dad a small wave, calling out "See you soon!" and followed Uncle Bucky into the hall.

Once the doors closed behind us, the tension faded from his body and he shot me an excited smile, "Time to hit the road, Sunshine."