Death and her Merchant

Homecoming

This was a disaster. He was drowning in his pain at first, and then dived head first into overworking himself and pulling all-nighters (and avoiding alcohol, he's too old to frolick in the woods, thank you very much, once was enough and every sore muscle in his body agrees) so when the kid tried to talk to him, reach out, he was too absorbed with his own struggles to listen, too quick to dismiss (Like Howard-he shudders at the though ) his ramblings about alien weapons because he was just a kid. But a kid that was a superhero -his mind supplied -and one that you keep enabling, the suit, the gadgets, the A. I.

Karen- he thought- the kid named her.

Bottom line, it was a disaster. And to top it all the kid, Peter, missed homecoming. But the good thing was that Tony was never gonna ignore the kid again. He'll even make the internship thing a real deal, so the kid, Peter, can get brownie points for college. (Although, with a glowing recommendation from Stark Industries, he can pick any college he wants. And get in without a hitch. )

Also, Tony was lonely. And he could use someone in the lab from time to time. A reason to be careful, he's getting too careless lately. And he and Pepper aren't intimate anymore and, although they agreed to stay friends, she doesn't come in to pull him out of the lab and remind him to eat and sleep like she use to even before they were dating.

So yeah, he was lonely.

Which is why Peter was in the lab with him today. It was Friday and, with the permission from Aunt Hottie, Peter was staying until Monday morning when Happy will drive him to school. It was surprisingly easy to work with someone else, to find a routine. He was in the middle of a debate with Peter which coding should they use for the newest prototype of a bomb-detecting robot when F.R.I.D.A.Y interrupted them:
'Boss, there is someone at the compound gates. '

He immediately turned to the closest holo-machine: 'Give me visual.'
A footage of huge iron gates seemingly sprouting from the surrounding concrete walls appeared. In front of it, a bit further down the road but still in clear view of the security camera, stood a figure in a black cloak with, you guessed it, hood over their head. As cliché as it sounds they actually made it look quite stylish. The cloak reached down to their mid-calfs and showed black boots with sharp and thin 10 inch heel that looked so good but also so impossible to walk on.
Probably female- he thought and his heart sped up when he saw what he would swear was white strands peeking out of the hood.

'Did they say anything?' He asked.

'They haven't, but I haven't engaged them yet either, they seem to be waiting. However, they are still too far from the gate entrance for me to engage Greeting Protocol. Shall I ask them to identify anyway?'

'Yes, put the audio through as well' he glanced at Peter who kept quiet the whole time but now tried to sneakily shuffle closer to the hologram. He says tried because the kid managed to knock over his cup of coffee (decaff ) in the process. Luckily Tony learned long ago from personal experience lab and ceramics don't mix so the cup didn't shatter. He swore that the kid was clumsy as hell whenever he wasn't in the suit. If he didn't know Peter was Spiderman he'd think they're two different people. He was about to crack a joke about spiders and coffee when audio came on and he heard F.R.I.D.A.Y's voice ask the person to identify themselves.

A voice he knew  very well answered: 'Engage protocol: Skywalker, Code: Clouds don't taste like cotton candy, only look that way.'

Without missing a beat, F.R.I.D.A.Y responded: 'Protocol Skywalker engaged, welcome miss Ignis.'

And as the iron gates smoothly slid open she walked in, but not before lifting her hood and throwing an amused smirk at the closest camera. Blue eyes and white curls waking a strange sense of safety in him. As well as many fond memories of two lost kids.

'Who's that mister Stark?' Peter's voice brought Tony back to reality.

Swallowing a lump of feelings that mostly tasted of relief and longing he said:
'An old friend. A really good, really old friend. Come Peter, you can meet her.'

And with that Tony walked out the lab with an over-eager puppy in human form on his heels.