bound by the science that lives on the lips of men

[ahollowman]

It was a scheduled meeting between himself and Spider-Woman, which he'd made for later in the evening, because he assumed she had a day job, and because although he was certain KIRIN was watching the place, KIRIN already knew her face, and Tony's employees did not. He wanted to keep it that way, because if she was anything like Pete, it meant something to her.

And it wasn't Tony's decision to make for her. He'd maybe learned a lesson recently about that. It had only taken a week of Wanda being a total dick to him. He supposed she was just fighting fire with fire.

He left the side door unlocked and sat at work, with parts to his suit and parts to the robobee spread out in front of him on the table as he sautered. He preferred to work on two projects at once. He could move between them if he got bored, or frustrated.

When the door chimed a gentle alarm, he lifted his head, and pressed his safety goggles up into his hair.

On top of the refrigerator, the ghetto blaster thumped out This Flight Tonight by Nazareth. The condenser on the refrigerator hummed on. A suspiciously Dummy-like robot sitting in one corner turned to face the newcomer.

"Holy crap," Tony said. "Are all of you fresh out of middle school or something?"

Comments

[herownway]

She halted on her way in, her examination of the various tech about the place -- which included the security on the door, because while she hoped she'd never have to break into Tony Stark's digs, you never knew -- interrupted by this. She was sort of put out. She'd worn what she thought of as her SHIELD clothes, the ones that weren't any kind of jumpsuit. The professional look. She looked perfectly adult.

Except maybe the equivalently 18 or so thing. Still.

"Jokes on you, I never went," Jessica said, dropping the affronted look after a moment to go back to looking around. "Besides, isn't that how tech companies like to recruit? Isn't all of google, like, children playing hackeysack?"

Not that she was being recruited, here. She didn't think. He wasn't offering and she wasn't looking.

[ahollowman]

Tony looked very much like he wanted to say something, but then the frown turned into a shrug, and he pressed himself up out of the office stool he was sitting on at work. He left his laptop and mixed robotics behind and crossed part of the distance toward her. Tony looked her over with almost the same interest as she looked over his workplace.

She didn't look like he thought she might. More pointed, fair features. Gracile, he thought, but strong. She looked as much like Parker as she didn't look like him. He didn't know why he'd expected differently.

"Yeah, yep. That was a good one. Very cutting."

He folded his arms over his chest. She looked like she might be scnning for security, and he wondered why, although he did not wonder very hard. He'd already told her: you couldn't trust Tony Stark.

"The robot in the corner shoots six hour tranquilizers. But you'd be able to dodge them." He stared at her for confirmarion. What was her power set? He'd only seen it in action once.

"Anyway, textiles shop is through that door, to the back rooms. Unless ypu wanted to chat first. I have leftover tangerine lemonade and petit fours in the fridge."

[herownway]

"Six hours for you, or six hours for me? Because six hours for you wouldn't be six hours for- it doesn't matter," Jessica concluded, because for a variety of reasons it didn't. For one, she was hoping that breaking in here wouldn't ever be necessary. There was always the possibility he'd be mindcontrolled, or there'd be some runaway invention, or she'd just have a related problem she needed to borrow something for, so it paid to think ahead, but still, she hoped. But how long she'd be out didn't really matter because she'd be out.

And finally, there was- "I could dodge," she acknowledged, heading for the fridge. "I actually have no idea what a petit four is? But I'm going to have one."

She thought it'd be rude to just come here and take what was probably a very fancy smartfabric, even if he'd said it was cost effective. Still rude. Also, she could never turn down free food. It was a metabolism thing and also a not having much money thing.

[ahollowman]

"Six hours for me." Tony knew, not from estimation, but because he'd tested it on himself. He headed toward the 'fridge with her, intent on the contents. It perpetually had snacks in it, because Tony had hired a very hungry staff; it was, interestingly, probably Rey who consumed the majority of what he brought in.

"On you, I have no idea. Although if I get the chance, I might accidentally-on-purpose try it out on Parker. By the way--


He reached into the refrigerator and tossed her a glass bottle of lemonade, certain she would catch it. It might have been a power play on Tony's part, if it was someone else, with different abilities.

"Pete showed up. And petit fours are tiny, adorable cakes."

He presented the tray of tiny, adorable cakes next, covered in orange and pale blue fondant.

[herownway]

She caught the bottle left-handed, then flicked it spinning into the air to catch in her other hand. If it hadn't been a screw top she might have opened it by sticking her thumb to it, since apparently they were doing that. Maybe she should have figured, but she was still working out what kind of Tony Stark he was. Probably it was somewhat futile; he was probably several at once, the way people were.

As it was, she just opened it, using it as a pause to consider how to answer the existence in Darrow of a Peter Parker. "I heard," she said. Miles had run into him first day, had let her know. She was, frankly, still considering. "So he's the Pete from your oh my god I am going to eat all of those."

This may have seemed a frivolous detour off the subject of Peter Parker, but frankly if she had to deal with that particular existential crisis she deserved to have tiny adorable cakes.

[ahollowman]

Now that was just showing off. But Tony allowed it.

He opened the cap on his own drink and tapped the fridge shut with one shoe while he sat the tray of leftover celebratory petit fours on the counter for her to help herself.

"Blue is chocolate, orange is raspberry almond. Where'd you hear from?"

That he was curious about. He didn't feel surprised that news traveled fast among the costume-wearing set, but as Tony did not yet have a costume with which to officially join them, he remained on the periphery of most of them.

Which was weird. He had a distinction at home. The first. The first one to actually put the word to it; Yes, I'm Iron Man. And yes, I'm a superhero. The avalanche followed.

He folded his arms over his chest, the cold bottle resting against his forearm, sweating in the warm shop.

"But yeah, at least on face, the same universe, the same timeline." Pete had arrived the same way Tony had. Confused, anxious, and still beat the hell up. "You might consider tracking him down sometime. Having a chat."

Tony paused. Then, admitted, "This is me asking you, also. I'm not good with kids. I'm not good with comforting people. He's fifteen."

[herownway]

"A mutual acquaintance ran into him, first day," Jessica said, picking one of the orange ones, devouring it in a minimum of bites, and then taking one of the blue. She'd had to consider how to put that. Maybe she could have said it was Miles, or just said roommate, but it was hard to know at what point that started to indicate things about Miles that weren't her secret to share.

Possibly Stark didn't know Peter's arrival put Darrow's Spider-Man count at two, rather than one, and she'd have to cover that at some point. Peter definitely wouldn't know. She'd have to cover that at some point, too. Especially if he was fifteen. It seemed vastly younger, somehow, even though her universe's Peter had only been sixteen, at the end.

But then, that had been vastly young, too.

"I'm considering," she said. She took a sip of lemonade and considered some more. They would have to talk, probably. It would be tremendously awkward but that didn't make it not necessary, and maybe made it a little more. "No, I will. But... I may be less comforting to him than you imagine. There's reasons I won't exactly set him at ease. I'm not gonna say why, because I have to tell him before I tell you, but- it's a complicated dynamic."

[ahollowman]

Tony took a very long draw on his drink. He wasn't thirsty, particularly, but it gave him a chance to compose himself before tossing out the words.

"You know how I mentioned that I broke the Avengers? Bucky Barnes killed my parents. So believe me, I get complicated dynamics."

He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. Spider-Woman, it seemed, liked to give half-answers. She danced around a lot of subjects. It was very different than Tony's way of conveying information. He held back very little, unless he had a reason to keep secrets. And then he would tell a straight lie, if he had to.

"Please eat the rest of those. Otherwise, I will, and that's depressing."

[herownway]

Who the hell is Bucky Barnes?

"...I don't know who that is," Jessica admitted. Presumably an Avenger? Someone connected to the Avengers, somehow. "I'm sorry. Both about your parents and not knowing. And the Avengers breaking. That's- well, that's never for the good."

She hoped it didn't seem less genuine for the fact that she was taking him up on eating the rest of the tiny cakes with great gumption. She was a growing girl. She was a girl growing webs through complicated internal processes that didn't bear thinking about but meant that she tended to eat a lot.

[ahollowman]

Tony was fucking flabbergasted. Just absolutely struck wordless, for at least forty seconds of wide-eyed staring. He'd just assumed. He hadn't even considered.

"How the hell do you not-- how. Does your universe not have a Bucky Barnes? How do you have a Captain America without Bucky Barnes? That's like, Jesus, Thor without a hammer. That's like me without a Pepper Potts. Why even bother? I seriously don't -- how?"

[herownway]

"I- I mean, maybe we do? I am not exactly all up on Captain America's social circle," she said. "I am not entirely convinced Captain America knows my name. Bucky Barnes is his... hammer? His friend. His... platonic life partner? Non-platonic life partner?"

It was a different universe, she didn't know. Maybe they had the gay Captain America. She'd met what she thought was maybe the Captain America in question but they hadn't exactly had that kind of chat.

[ahollowman]

Tony's face turned the particular funny color of thinly masked jealousy because there was shit he wasn't over, and he pinched the bridge of his nose. He still wasn't sure exactly what the hell Bucky was to Steve, except that he was more than Tony. And Tony still wasn't sure what his own feelings were, either, except that they were too strong, and too much, all around. Sometimes, he wished he could be anyone but himself, for just fifteen minutes.

"You know what, I might as well clear this up, because with my luck, Bucky's going to show up next week. They were -- I don't know. Very close during the war, maybe in a way I don't understand, because I'm not a soldier. But this was before my time. But Barnes was injured, and taken by HYDRA. They brainwashed him, turned him into an operative. Then threw him on ice for years. But the programming is still active. We don't have anything that could remove it."

Which was, maybe, not entirely true. There was the BARF, and it had promise, but the sonofabitch had killed his mom.

[herownway]

It was a touchy subject, clearly, but then it would be. The man had killed his parents. There weren't a lot of wounds as tender as that.

"His brainwashed best friend killed your parents," Jessica said, and then, "Well, shit," because, well, shit. "I mean- I can only imagine. I can see how that'd break up a band. When... when you all threw down, how bad was it?"

[ahollowman]

"That is the short of it, yeah," Tony said, managing to pull the curtain of sangfroid down again. It was rare that a subject could that easily throw him off his guard. That made it worse.

He pointedly stuffed one of the blue cakes into his mouth whole. Vodka would have been better, but cake was a quick substitute.

"The UN was on my ass to arrest Cap and the others. There were reasons, a political nightmare. Anti-vigilantism Accords signed into place. But we were still friends, mostly. I said go easy on them. And then somewhere along the line, going easy on them turned into 'beat their asses' which quickly all went to shit. Do you know Rhodey? You guys even have a Rhodey? He's my buddy. The reactor in his suit got taken out, it was a freak accident. He went down. Crushed half his vertebrae, severed his spine. That ended it pretty quickly."

She was, for whatever reason, only the second person Tony had admitted this to, after Phil. He wondered why. SHIELD training? Maybe. Or maybe she just had a kind face, when it wasn't covered with spider webbing.

[herownway]

"War Machine," Jessica said, half to herself, having to think to place the name. She didn't know him, but she knew of him. "Severed his- oh my god. I'm- it is wholly inadequate but I'm sorry. That's horrible."

She'd considered whether to tell him what happened to Peter, and was now decided on not yet, or at least not now. It would be nothing but piling on, like some kind of ghoulish competition to see whose superhero fights ended in the worst collateral damage, who had the most angst, and she didn't need to play and she didn't need to make like she needed to instruct him on consequences. Clearly, he knew from consequences.

[ahollowman]

"Yes, it is horrible. And yeah, I'm sorry too," Tony said. His face had gone quiet, and he half stared at his feet before lifting his eyes to half stare at Spider-Woman. He didn't want the conversation to turn into superhero disaster porn anymore than she did. Tony might, years ago, have been convinced in his own struggle, but now he didn't care. In this, he wasn't the victim. Rhodey was. And Tony had no perverse desire to hear anyone say they were sorry about it, except the one: Steve Rogers. Tony wanted to hear that man alone admit his culpability.

"It'll be okay. He's unlucky enough to know me, but he's also lucky enough to know me. I don't just make smart fabric. He's got everything money can buy available to him."

There was an undercurrent of irony, and then Tony decided to close that chapter in the conversation. His megawatt smile returned, as if pinned there.

"You've got a little bit of raspberry on the side of your mouth. What should I be calling you, anyway? Unless we're sticking with Pajamas. Which we are, by the way. Just, you know, in costume."

[herownway]

Discussing the horrid outcomes of inter-hero strife with raspberry on the side of her mouth. That did seem pretty par for the course, unfortunately. She wiped it off and then ate it off her thumb because she also was not wasting it. It was good.

"Jessica," she said, with a slight sigh about Pajamas. That seemed pretty par for the course, too. Some aspects of Tony Stark were fairly consistent. "Drew," she added, in case he was thinking that might be a different surname, one beginning with P, perhaps. "Formerly agent of SHIELD, now agent of... myself, mostly."

[ahollowman]

"Nice to meet you, Jessica Drew," Tony said, and sat on the counter with his hands curled over the edge.

"Former SHIELD contractor, current bankroller of Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Should we come up with a cover story for me knowing you, or something? Does that not matter to you? Because Pete is my mentee. I mean he sort of is, literally, but also, you know. I'm just ... I'm actually really bad at this whole secret identity thing."

Tony did have one question answered, though. She wasn't related to Peter, at least not directly, not that way.

"I might have just showed up at Parker's apartment one day. His aunt is so engaging. We talked for like, two hours before Pete showed up."

[herownway]

"Aunt... May? She's a nice lady," Jessica said, squinting at him, because he had definitely said engaging with a twist on it, and it wasn't the twist you used for 'a smart and capable woman distinguished but undiminished by the years.'

"Um. Anyway. Let's say I solved one of your puzzles but wasn't in the market for the job," Jessica said. "Which- I actually did do that, so it works. It should cover it."

[ahollowman]

"Is there a second hot aunt I haven't heard about? Because I would hate to be missing out. But yeah, great woman, not sure she knows how to cook, but great."

He kicked himself off the counter again and moved toward the door in the back, where he kept the textiles lab. He and Peter suited one another well; they were kinetic. Tony saw the same quality in Jessica Drew. It was weirdly relieving.

"Yeah, that covers it." The best lies were the ones closest to reality. The kind Tony rarely told; his were bold and unrepentant and large. So the tiny ones tended to better pass under the radar. "Also, handily, gives you an excuse to know Peter. Congratulations. You're on my radar and I want to headhunt you just like I decided Pete needed my personal touch. Except not really."

Because cover story. And also because, she no doubt didn't want any of that, from the way she spoke and acted. And he didn't want her, because Tony was tired of all the women he worked with being secret agents.

[herownway]

There had been some other stuff in there, and part of her did register and agree with those things, but it was buried entirely under her brain attempting to process his first sentence.

"Hot... aunt?" she said. "Hot aunt. Hot aunt."

Attempting may not have been the word. It was more of an infinite loop.

"Hot aunt... May? Hot Aunt May. Hot Aunt May?"

Her head was tipped so far to the side that as she followed towards the other room she would have been walking on the wall had she not had shoes on. "Aunt... Hot May?"

Oh my god does Tony Stark have a senior fetish. I suppose... I suppose he might just be open to the beauty in everyone. That would be very sweet. But. But.

HOT AUNT?

[ahollowman]

"Hot aunt," Tony replied, emphasizing the tt sound on the end of both words and giving Jessica a worried look out of the corner of his eyes. He was a little worried he had somehow broken her, for reasons he couldn't comprehend. Maybe missing context. "Physically. Attractive. In a mature way. She's fifty-five and she absolutely has that Jane Seymour on a great day vibe going on. And she is maybe reaching out after being widowed and thinking about getting out and socializing more. Which sounds like available to me."

He opened the door to the textiles lab and waited for Jessica to pass in.

[herownway]

"She's fifty-five," breathed Jessica, in tones of profound relief. Perhaps this would have been the logical assumption, that she was older. Probably she should have considered it. But Aunt May was Aunt May. It was hard to think of her as other than herself, a constant. She'd just erroneously pictured her the same across the multiverse, which was silly, really, considering how many other things were different.

"Our universe's Aunt May is... not fifty-five," she said, passing into the textiles lab, looking around once more, although perhaps not with an eye towards the same things, more simply appreciative of what was there. Since she was going to be the benefit of its largesse and all. "Not that women older than fifty-five can't be, um, engaging, I'm sure many still experience, um, romance- I'm stopping there."

[ahollowman]

"I mean, you're right, age is only a number, right? She's an attractive, intelligent woman, she could be ninety, whatever." He was half-joking. He never had cared what the papers, and the tabloids, said about his personal life, but also, he made the suggestion purely because she'd been so knocked off-center by the subject. He was just impish enough to have possibly found a new straight man. A straight woman, as it were.

Which would work well, he supposed, until she decided to remind him that she made her own webbing.

Tony waved at the host of machines. They were, mostly, used, and they were, mostly, fixer-uppers. Cheaply acquired and well-loved, which Tony, despite his ostentatious personality, did not have issue with. There were also a few very new machines; a 3D printer among them.

"Here you go. The room where magic happens. Feel free to poke around to your heart's content. If you're former SHIELD and half as smart as I suspect you are based on my little weirdo, if you want to get into my files, you will. So no point in password protecting anything. There are some templates with your name on them. 'Pajamas.' You might want to look them over before we finalize. Or I could just give you some skeins of red and white and send you on your way. Do you sew?"

They had already established that Tony did.

[herownway]

"I do not," Jessica said. Maybe given practice or instruction she could have, and if she hadn't gotten a line on solutions to her costume problem maybe she would have had to try. She kind of figured getting a professional to do it was a better option than trying to become a tolerable amateur, because then she could focus on the more useful aspects.

Keeping her hacking skills up to par, for one, since Tony Stark considered her able to get into his system. Tony Stark!

Not that I think he's wrong. If his little weirdo can do it, I can do it.

She might have a more tempered view about science, her origin having made her relationship with it rather more fraught and wary. She couldn't muster the same kind of pure love for it, so she bent herself to other things. Same smarts, different applications.

"I might take the skeins, anyway. I kind of lined up a person to do it. I met an actual facts fashion design student and lined her up to do it."

[ahollowman]

"Holy crap, those still exist? I thought the kids these days were all doing psychology and medical administration or whatever?"

Tony moved off, bustling with an almost but not quite directness around the room to gather the things for her. Red. White. Everything she'd said she needed. He had no problem giving it to her, no problem letting her get her project finished by herself. He felt no ownership over the issue, and no need for gratitude or a returned favor. Tony was raised in generosity; it was a careless generosity, without pretense or expectation.

He thrust the pile toward her arms.

"Just uh, remember to tell them it's heat activated, you fuse it with an iron and then no seams, tada. Except also, if there are wrinkles, you set those, too, so basically, try not to wrinkle it. I mean, once you put it on, they'll be pulled out anyway, but it just looks bad, you know?"

Not that it had mattered with Peter anyway, who kept the thing balled up in a backpack and sometimes smelling of his teenager armpit sweat, but Tony wasn't his Aunt May and he wasn't in the market for someone to parent.

[herownway]

"No wrinkles," Jessica said, taking the proferred fabrics, running her hand over them thoughtfully. Good feel. She liked it. Seemed like it would wear well. "I do not want to be Wrinkled Spider-Woman, so I will pass that along. We'll avoid it. Thank you for this. Really. I was in a bind, I'm out of a bind. I'm very grateful."