Day 11.
Thankfully, Peter's prediction had been correct. Instead of a lot of panic, the situation was more like an extremely long sleepover. Harry was playing a quick game of go fish in the headspace with Threat while the Goblin would take control every so often but was met by the same fate each time he tried to get to Peter. Andrew didn't have to lift a finger to just politely slide him back to the original spot. It was actually quite funny how unbothered everybody was after the depressing talk from yesterday.
Lucien was helping Cricket and Peter with making a pretty awesome blanket fort. Even though the poet was a grump and sort of buzzkill, he did seem to have a soft spot for the one with the name of an insect. Jason was hanging with Jesse and Andrew, who seemed to be telling stories and drawing or coloring, apart from the small Roblox breaks to bully small children. It was one of Quentin's favorite activities, so Jesse says they're doing it to honor him. Chris was the only one absent, at least for the main bedroom.
MJ was hanging out in the lab with Peter 1, who was pretty much on babysitting duty to make sure that Mr. Stark was taking his medication and all that jazz. He'd get the occasional whining and glares before the man would grumble while getting them down with his cup of coffee. What Tony didn't know, is Peter felt as equally bad about having to force them on him. After the events of 2024 with the multiverse and all that, he had his own problems with night terrors and was in the same exact boat by Ned and Michelle.
He knew how much it sucked. To shut his eyes and be reminded of every mistake he made and what he could have done instead. That if he had been smarter, that maybe May would still be here. But he also knew how important it was for his health, and that's why he would play doctor. The kid glanced over at his girlfriend, who was sitting at one of the back tables with her nose in a book. Though, she was observant, so a simple thumbs up was given to let the hero know that she was doing fine.
Parker had invited Leeds to hang with him as they were sat in the middle of the lab rebuilding one of their old sets. Thankfully, it seemed that one of Beck's kids, Chris, was keeping Stark busy enough for Spider-Man to have this small childish break. He really needed it, he couldn't remember the last time he had the time to play with Legos. After a little while, Michelle had closed her book and sat with the nerds to watch, firstly before eventually joining in with the building. Just like old times. God, he missed this.
Tony was talking with Lynwood about Dum-E, a robotic friend that the genius had built when he was sixteen. Apart from Quentin, Dum-E was Tony's assistant for many things, and again, a personal friend. Chris didn't know a lot about technology, unless it was linked with boats, he was an expert on those. So needless to say, he was quite impressed with lots of questions.
"You really made this when you were a teenager?" The young adult asked while moving the mechanical arm back and forth to test the build.
"Yup, in the basement of MIT. Got an award for it too. My fourth now that I think about it."
"How does it work?"
"Originally it was just machinery, but I was pretty lonely back then, so I ended up upgrading him by adding a small AI so that he could recognize my voice commands and stuff like that. Pretty cool, huh?"
"It really is. Especially at such a young age." Chris replied while still messing with it.
"So, what type of interests do you have, kid? I doubt it's only drugs." Tony joked.
"Uh," Chris thought, he had a few that he could pick from, "I really love boats."
"Oh?" Tony expressed, "How did that start?"
Lynwood shrugged, "Dunno, I guess I've just always been fond of them. I'd assume it started when I was younger, though. Maybe it's because my family was always around them, since we had constant shipments of cocaine being sailed across the world." He admitted, "Still, I just think it's fascinating how they work."
"Well, if you promise not to tell Quentin, I'll buy you your own, how about that?"
"That'd be great, actually, my last one was set on fire when the captain tried to kill me."
The silence was loud all of a sudden. The young man looked over at the billionaire, who was just staring at him with concern and shock, his jaw hanging low. Whoops. Perhaps he shouldn't have been *that* honest.
"It's a long story." Chris sighed.
"Are you- okay?" Tony asked with concern. It was only cool if he talked about his trauma as if it were a casual Tuesday, not other people who didn't deserve such events.
"Not really, but I would say I am doing a lot better after being taken here." He replied honestly, "I miss my sister and all that, but I am thankful for what you two have done for me. I just hope she's okay."
Those two talked for a while, the conversation shifting emotions a ton of times. Tony shared one of his traumatic stories to even it out. He decided to go with 2009, where he thought he could trust Stane only to be backstabbed. Perhaps a theme was forming. Group therapy was the best therapy.
Peter backed out from the enclosure before standing and dusting his hands off of each other. The three of them had done a pretty solid job. Cricket liked it and that was really all that mattered since he was the one most on edge over this whole thing. Lucien gave it a sideways thumbs up, expressing that it could have been less boring, but hey, better than nothing. Slumber party in the giant cozy thing, woo!
For once, a day with the current event surrounding Quentin... it was actually okay. People were still sad, duh, especially after finding the man's guitar underneath Andrew's bed, reminding all of them just how much they truly missed him. But, they had each other, and they knew this wasn't the end. They'd see him again. Someday.
It might be tomorrow.
It might be a week from now.
It could be three months.
It might even be a year.
But eventually, they will see him again.