Business Trip
Pepper scheduled Tony’s first business trip a week after Father’s Day. He’d be jetting off to Japan on the 28th of June and coming back on the 3rd of July. Peter was fine with it. He understood that Tony had to go back to work at some point, and that meetings and business trips were important. He understood that. He’d been selfish all this time, keeping Tony in the penthouse with him like he was some sort of baby that needed around-the-clock care. So when Tony told Peter that he had a business trip, Peter didn’t remind him that May’s birthday was the 2nd of July, and that it was the first one since she’d died, and that Tony wouldn’t be here for it.
He didn’t want to cause any more problems than he already had. It wasn’t fair to Tony or Pepper.
That was another thing. It wasn’t only Tony that was going. Pepper was going too and Happy was going with the both of them. Rhodey had to work in D.C. that week too, so Peter was going to be alone. That was also absolutely fine. Peter was fourteen. He would be fifteen in a month. He was perfectly capable of staying alive for six days while everyone was away. If there was any sort of emergency, he had FRIDAY and he had the team downstairs. That’s what he’d told Tony when he was concerned about leaving Peter alone for so long.
Monday to Thursday was fine. School was out but he had meets every day for the Academic Decathlon team since Nationals were this month. So he was with Ned and MJ for a solid four or five hours every day, and the replacement driver, Sean, picked him up every afternoon at school and brought him back home. That was another stipulation of Tony’s; if Peter was going to be fine on his own, then he had to get picked up from school so that Tony had peace of mind. Each night he got home, did some extra prep for Nationals, went out on patrol for two hours and called Tony once he was back safe. He then ordered takeout and watched movies until he went to bed.
Everything was fine until Thursday night when Peter went to sleep.
He should have expected it. Really, he should have. It was the night before May’s birthday, what else would happen?
The nightmare this time was different. It wasn’t a car crash. No, instead it was May greeting him at home and then taking him out for Thai food just like they did on her birthday every year. They sat down at the table and ordered their food and Peter was happy. And then May started asking him weird questions.
“Why didn’t you save me, Peter?”
“What? I—Aunt May, I—”
“You had your powers, Peter. You could have stopped that car from hitting us. There were a thousand things you could have done. So why didn’t you save me? After all the things I’ve done for you over the years. We took you in when you had nobody and this is how you repay us? You let Ben die. You let me die.”
“May, I swear I didn’t, I—I can’t—I couldn’t have—”
“And now you’re living with Tony in his penthouse suite. Living the life you’ve always wanted while we’re dead. You don’t even think of us anymore, do you, Peter? You don’t bother about us anymore. You don’t appreciate what we did for you. You’re just a selfish little kid at the end of the day, and you’ll realise that when you lose Tony too—”
Tony’s phone rang in the middle of a meeting and Pepper sent him a glare across the table. He picked it up and silenced it, but a message lit up the screen.
Peter requires assistance, Boss. He is in severe emotional distress.
Tony read the message a few times to make sure he wasn’t imagining it, and then pushed himself out of his seat. It was 4pm, the meeting should be over soon. He excused himself, mouthed ‘Peter’ to Pepper, and then left the conference room.
He immediately dialled Peter’s phone, but he didn’t answer. Swearing in frustration, Tony asked FRIDAY to patch him through to her system in the tower.
"Peter?" Tony held the phone up to his ear.
Peter?
A familiar voice rang out in Peter’s bedroom and he jerked awake. His eyes darted around the room, seeking out Tony, but he wasn’t there.
Peter? Can you hear me, buddy?
The voice was coming from the walls, from the ceiling, just like FRIDAY.
“T-Tony?” Peter stuttered and he heard Tony sigh in relief.
Yeah, it’s me, buddy. Are you okay? FRIDAY said you needed help.
“I—How are you…?”
I patched myself through to FRIDAY’s server because you didn’t pick up your phone. Are you okay, kiddo? Did you have a nightmare?
Peter was reminded of his nightmare. He pulled his duvet up to his chin, leaning back in his bed to try and get his breathing regulated again.
“Y-Yeah.”
Talk to me, kiddo. Are you okay? What do you need?
“Can you just—can you just talk for a while? I think I can go back to sleep, it’s just—”
No problem, buddy. I can tell you what a completely boring time I’m having in Japan, away from my best kiddo.
Peter smiled and nestled into his covers, falling asleep again to the soft tone of his father’s voice.
Tony got a phone call around 11pm, just as he and Pepper were getting in from their dinner with the potential clients. Pepper trailed off to their room while he answered it.
“This is Stark.” He greeted when he didn’t recognise the number.
“Hi, Mr Stark. I’m Peter’s teacher, Roger Harrington, at Midtown Tech? I’m ringing to ask if Peter’s okay and if he’s coming in today.”
Tony froze, his foot half-out of his shoe. “Sorry, what?”
“Peter hasn’t turned up to the Academic Decathlon meeting this morning, Sir. Is he ill?”
Tony immediately began to worry, but knew that he had to think fast. “Uh, yeah. Yeah, sorry about that, I meant to ring but it completely slipped my mind. Must’ve caught some sort of bug. I’ll—I’ll make sure he’s back to normal for your next session on Monday.”
“Thank you, Sir. Tell Peter I hope he feels better soon.”
“Will do. Thanks, Harrington.”
Tony put the phone down and immediately called Peter’s cell, swearing when it went straight to voicemail. He tried another two times before giving up and frantically calling Bucky.
“Tony? What’s up?”
“Barnes, I need your help. I can’t get ahold of Peter, can you ask FRIDAY if he’s in the house?”
“She said he’s not. He left about an hour ago to go to school,” Bucky reported and Tony cursed again.
“Okay, I’m gonna track his phone, hang on.”
He was thankful Peter had just ignored his calls and hadn’t completely turned his phone off, meaning that Tony could still track him. When the pulsing red spot settled, Tony immediately knew what had happened. His shoulders dropped and he let out a breath.
“Tony? Have you found him?”
“Yeah, he’s—he’s at the graveyard. It’s May’s birthday today.” Tony explained quickly. “Damn it, I forgot it was her birthday, I should’ve—I shouldn’t have come on this damn trip, he’s on his own and he’s—fuck.”
“It’s okay, send me the details. I’ll go and be with him, he doesn’t have to be alone.” Bucky said.
“Are you sure? I wouldn’t want to put you out—”
“Tony, I promise, it’s fine. He shouldn’t be alone right now. If he wants to visit her grave, that’s fine, but he doesn’t have to be alone right now. I’ll go be with him.”
Tony let out a sigh in relief. “Thanks, Barnes, I really appreciate it. I’ll send you his location now.”
“Great.”
“I—will you tell him—I mean, when you get there, will you tell him that I love him and that I want him to call me when he gets home. I don’t care about the time difference, okay?” Tony rushed out.
“Sure, I will. I’ll let you know when I find him.”
“Thanks, Barnes. I owe you one.”
“Don’t worry about it, Tony. He’ll be fine.”
Bucky rode down to the garage in the elevator and got onto his motorcycle, grabbing a spare helmet for Peter. The weather wasn’t great, it had started raining about an hour ago pretty heavily. He made sure that he’d grabbed a dry hoodie for Peter and packed it into the seat of the bike for him along with a thin rain jacket. He had an earpiece in with FRIDAY giving him directions to the graveyard and he was there in record time. He parked the bike far enough away so that the engine wouldn’t interrupt anyone or bring him any attention.
It didn’t take him long to find Peter. There was a grave down the bottom of the yard, separate from the rest, on the end of a row. It was a large grave; Bucky remembered Tony telling him that May had been buried with her husband, Ben. Peter was knelt in the mud at the bottom of the graves, his head ducked down. There was a bunch of flowers laid at the base of the stone, the rain soaking them a little.
Bucky knew that Peter had heard him because he saw him stiffen a little. He crouched down onto the balls of his feel at put his hand gently on Peter’s back.
“Hey, bud.”
Peter sniffed, “Hey, Bucky.”
“Y’know, you gotta stop disappearing on us like that, it makes us worry.” Bucky made sure his voice was soft, he didn’t want to make it seem as though he was angry with Peter.
Peter wiped his nose with his sleeve. “I’m sorry. I was gonna go to the Decathlon meeting, I promise, I just—”
“I get it. It’s her birthday, you wanted to come and say hi.” Bucky finished for him and Peter nodded.
“I’ve been such a shitty nephew recently, I just—I felt bad about leaving her funeral early and not going to the wake and I haven’t been since and so I just—I stopped at the grocery store and bought her daffodils cause they’re her favourite flowers and I thought I’d come and see her and it would make me feel better but it’s not.” Peter’s shoulders shook and Bucky pulled him into his arms, sinking his knees down into the mud to balance properly.
Peter cried against him and Bucky held him solidly, grounding him. He knew what it was like to lose people, he’d had to go through it all the time back when the war was happening, and he’d seen countless people struggle with their grief over the years.
“You’re not a shitty nephew, Peter. She understands, I know she does. It’s hard, losing someone, it really is. She doesn’t love you any less because you didn’t go to her wake, I promise you that. She’s probably really happy that you’re in a stable situation and that you’re living with your dad and everything’s slowly getting back to normal for you. You shouldn’t feel bad about that. It’s okay to miss her, it is, but it’s also okay to not think about her for a while. You’re learning to live your life without her, and that’s okay.” He kept running his hand on Peter’s back in circles, hoping that it was comforting him.
“Okay,” Peter whimpered and Bucky’s heart clenched. He felt protective over Peter, just like the rest of the team. But to Bucky, he reminded him of a pre-serum Steve, and all he wanted to do was help him.
They sat there in silence for a few more minutes before Peter’s voice was steady enough for him to talk.
“We used to get Thai food.”
“Hm?” Bucky pulled away a little so that he could hear him properly.
“Every year on her birthday we used to get Thai food and eat it together and we used to watch a movie. Ever since the accident I haven’t been able to eat it.” Peter admitted and Bucky nodded his head.
“Alright, well that’s something that we can work on. Are you cold?” Peter nodded. “You getting ready to go back? It’s a little damp out here.”
“Yeah, I’m ready.”
“Okay, kiddo, come on. Let’s go back home and we can warm up and order some Thai food,” Bucky suggested and Peter furrowed his eyebrows. “That’s how we can keep her here with us. You used to go for Thai food every year on her birthday? We can do that too, every year on May’s birthday we can order her favourite takeout and we can watch a movie and we can honour her memory.”
Peter’s face crumpled again and he cried against Bucky. “Thank you, Bucky.”
“No problem, kiddo. Come on,” he let Peter back to the bike and Peter smiled when he pulled out the dry hoodie and rain jacket for him. He slipped into the clothes and shoved his sodden hoodie into the seat compartment before getting on the bike.
Bucky handed him the helmet and he deadpanned at him. “Really?”
“Now, your dad’s worried about you not picking up your phone, thinking you were dead in a ditch. If he finds out I let you ride my motorcycle, he’s gonna kill me. If he finds out I let you ride my motorcycle without a bike helmet? Nobody’s gonna be able to find my body, okay? So put the goddamn helmet on you little squirt.” Peter let out a wet laugh at that and reluctantly shoved the helmet on his head.
He called Tony when they got back to the tower and cried again. They talked about May for a while and Tony apologised five thousand times for not being there, promising that he was coming home soon and that he wouldn’t go on another business trip until the fall at the very least. Then Peter got a shower and changed into some comfy clothes and walked back out into the kitchen to meet Bucky, who passed him a bottle of gatorade.
“I spoke to a couple of the others and they were wondering if they could join in on the Thai food? Is that okay?” He asked and Peter thought for a minute before nodding.
“Yeah, it—it would be nice to make it a new tradition and have everyone there.”
Bucky smiled, resting his hand on Peter’s shoulder. “Great, I’m really proud of you, Peter. Did you speak to your dad?”
“Yeah, I’ve just let him to go bed, it’s pretty early over there.” Peter chuckled. “It helped. Talking to him, it—it made me feel better. I miss him.”
“Just think, he’ll be back in no time.”
They went down to the team’s floor and ordered Thai food. Peter ordered his usual and they put it all out on the table, digging in. It was just like any other group meal they had, except they did a toast to May before they ate and everyone kept hugging Peter.
They chatted and shared stories and joked, and at the end of the meal they let Peter choose the movie. He sat on the sofa in between Bucky and Steve and a soft blanket was placed around him. Even though it was just the early afternoon, Peter was a little sleepy and found himself drifting off against Steve’s side. He’d had a night of interrupted sleep and he needed to catch up a little.
Someone woke him up after the movie ended and he took himself off to his room to call with Ned and MJ so he could catch up on what he’d missed at the meeting. MJ grilled him for not going to school but then Ned told her off and whispered something in her ear and she stopped. She didn’t apologise, but she stopped yelling at him, which he appreciated. She left early because she had to go and meet her father, but Ned stayed on to talk to him.
“Are you doing okay, dude? Like really?”
Peter nodded slowly. “Yeah, I—I wasn’t great last night or this morning but I feel better now. Bucky came to get me and we came back and we had Thai food and watched a movie like I always did with May. I guess I’m just waiting for Tony to get back now. He should be landing some time tomorrow night, I think.”
Ned looked at him with pity in his eyes and Peter hated it. “Do you want to come over tonight for a little bit? Take your mind off things? I have a new Lego set we can start?”
He shook his head. “Maybe another night? Thanks for inviting me and everything but I just think that I won’t be any good company tonight. I’m still really tired, I’m gonna have to go to bed early.”
“Okay, as long as you’re sure. Mom said you’re welcome any time you want.”
“Thanks, dude. I’ll talk to you later.”
Peter laid on his bed for a while, trying to sleep. He just ended up staring at the ceiling, then at the wall, then at the opposite wall, and then finally shoved his head into his pillow in an effort to put himself to sleep. It didn’t work. He finally groaned, getting off the bed and going back into the living room. Bucky was back in the penthouse, to his surprise.
“Hey, sorry, I didn’t realise you were out here. I would’ve come out sooner if I knew you were still here.” Peter said, apologising. Bucky waved him off.
“Don’t worry about it, Peter. I just didn’t want you to be alone up here, figured I’d stay up here in case you needed anything or just wanted to hang out or whatever until Tony gets back tomorrow.” He bit into an apple from the fruit bowl in the middle of the island.
Peter smiled genuinely for the first time in a while. “Thanks, that’s—that’s really kind of you. Do you wanna watch another movie or something?”
“Yeah, sure thing.”
“You can pick this one, though.”
So he and Bucky spent the rest of the day lounging about in the living room watching movies that they barely paid attention to, but it was nice. It was nice to just do nothing and for it to be okay. They ordered pizza and ate leftover Thai food for dinner on Pepper’s cream couch, which was definitely breaking the rules, but that particular rule had been broken so many times at this point it was practically a tradition.
Peter eventually fell asleep and Bucky pulled a blanket around him on the sofa before he dropped off himself. He didn’t want to leave Peter alone in case he had a nightmare.
“Pete?” Someone whispered and Peter groaned. A hand was placed on his shoulder. “Come on, buddy. Wake up.”
“Nooo,” Peter moaned. “‘M tired, Bucky.”
There was a chuckled. “I’m not Bucky, kiddo. Open your eyes.”
Begrudgingly, Peter opened one eye to glare at whoever was interrupting his deep sleep.
Tony.
Tony was back.
He was back early.
“You’re back!” Peter yelled, scrambling up from the sofa to get to him, his legs tangling up in the blanket. He fell over thanks to it and Tony lunged forward to grab him under the arms, pulling him back up and into his arms.
“I’m here, buddy.” Tony pulled him tight and Peter threw his arms around Tony’s chest.
“I missed you so much.”
Tony pressed a kiss to the top of his head. “I missed you too. I caught an earlier flight and got here as soon as I could.”
“Wait, what time is it?”
“I don’t know, like 1:30 in the morning? It’s pretty late. I was gonna leave you to sleep but I missed you and I wanted a hug.” Tony sucked in a deep breath and closed his eyes.
“I wanted a hug too, it’s fine.”
“How was today?” Tony asked hesitantly.
“I wasn’t too bad, actually. Bucky helped me a lot, made me feel better.”
Tony looked over at the super soldier who had woken up when he heard the elevator ding, thanks to his super-hearing. Bucky smiled and Tony nodded in thanks.
“Yeah, he’s not a bad guy, is he?”
“Bucky? He’s the best.” Peter mumbled sleepily.
“You tired, kiddo?”
“Yeah.”
Tony pulled away from him a little and smiled at him warmly. “Come on, let’s go get some sleep.”
Tony woke up that morning to find the bed empty. Peter had slept with him last night, having missed him so much and dealt with a lot while he was away. The fact that the bed was empty and the sheets were cold didn’t comfort Tony.
“FRIDAY? Is Peter in the kitchen?”
No, Boss. Bucky is currently in the kitchen.
“Is he—is he in his room?”
Boss, Peter is on the roof.
Tony almost had a heart attack. He threw himself out of bed and out the door.
“Don’t you think that’s the kind of thing you should mention?” He spluttered, racing through the kitchen and paying no mind to Bucky, who was stood at the island sipping a cup of coffee.
I didn’t know that was a rule, Boss. You only told me to tell you when Peter left the building after… breaking the rules.
Tony huffed in annoyance. “For the love of all things holy. If Peter is on the roof, I want you to tell me.” He frantically pressed the call button on the elevator until it opened.
From now on, I will let you know if Peter goes on the roof of the Tower.
The doors dinged open and Tony tried to compose himself. Peter was sat on the edge of the roof, dangling his legs over the edge. Tony didn’t exactly want to walk out and scare the kid; he knew his Peter tingle didn’t work for him. He thought for a moment he should’ve brought a blanket up with him because he was stood in a zip-up hoodie from the night before. Oh well.
He stepped out onto the roof and the cold immediately hit him. He wrapped his arms around himself in an effort to retain his last bit of remaining body heat. Tony walked forward, clearing his throat to let Peter know that he was there. He settled down next to him, draping his legs over the edge. It was a little too scary for him, but he didn’t want to pull Peter away from the edge if he wasn’t ready yet.
“Hey, kiddo. You wake up early?”
Peter nodded his head. Tony hooked his finger under Peter’s chin and turned it so he faced him. His eyes were red and bloodshot. He’d been crying.
“I d-don’t like feeling l-like this,” Peter whispered and Tony had to strain his ears because of the wind.
He nodded slowly. He knew what the kid meant. “I understand that, Pete. I really do. So if you carry on feeling like this there’s things that we can do.”
“There is? What, like medication? Anti-depressants?” Peter asked and Tony bobbed his head from side to side.
“Let’s just slow down a little. Maybe let’s start with therapy and if they think you need medication, we can try that out. But just for now maybe talking with a professional and having a little bereavement counselling will do you some good. I know my therapist helps me loads.” Tony said, rubbing circles on Peter’s back comfortingly.
“They do?”
“I’ve been in therapy ever since I came back from Afghanistan. An abusive childhood paired with a three-month kidnapping and betrayal of a father figure and alcohol problems and self-hate and anxiety? Kiddo, I needed all the therapy I could get. Still do.” Tony let out a chuckle at his own list of problems.
He noted Peter shivered a little and he unzipped his hoodie. He thought about just giving it to him but it really was freezing out, so he slipped one arm out and wrapped Peter up in the other half of the hoodie, guiding his arm into the free space. He wrapped his arm around him and pulled him tight.
“You do so great, though. Like I—you don’t look like you go to therapy.” Peter mumbled. "I've never noticed you going to therapy before."
Tony shook his head. “It might look like I have everything together Pete, but I really don’t. And seeing my therapist has really helped me with everything. It’s not completely fixed all my issues; I still have to take anti-anxiety medication every day, but I’m in such a better place than I was before. You don't see me going to an appointment because I do most of my therapy over the phone now, I've got a really close relationship with my therapist.”
“Do you think it will help?” Peter asked, looking up at him.
Tony sucked in a deep breath. “I don’t think it’ll solve everything. May’s always going to be gone and you’re always going to miss her, but I really think that it’ll help massively with the grieving process.”
Peter nodded slowly and sniffed. “Okay, I—if you think it’s gonna be good for me then I’m willing to give it a go.”
Tony tugged him close. “Thanks, kiddo. I’m so proud of you.” They sat there for a few more minutes before Tony shivered again. “Okay I know we’re having a moment right now but can we please go inside and get some breakfast? I’m freezing my nuts off right now.”
Peter let out a laugh. “Sure, old man.”
Peter’s next meeting with his social worker was the following day, and it went much like the last few, but this time Peter was ready for the question about adoption.
“How do you feel about adoption now, Peter? Any different?” Arthur clicked his pen a few times.
“I guess I’m still a little hesitant about it all, but I—I don’t know why. Tony’s basically already my dad.” Peter picked a his jeans a little and Arthur leant forward.
“I think I might have an idea why you’re feeling like this.”
“Oh yeah?” He raised his eyebrows.
He nodded. “I think that because of all the bad things that have happened to you in your life, you’re scared about something so permanent. Because nothing has been permanent in your life so far, and you’re worried that this situation with Tony isn’t for good.”
Arthur seemed to hit the nail on the goddamn head. Bastard.
“But nothing’s going to happen, Peter. This is for real, this is permanent, if you want it to be. And adoption is just something that’s gonna give you a little more reassurance. Tony tells me that’s something you’ve struggled with, right? Accepting that you’re not gonna have to move out and your life isn’t going to be uprooted again. Wouldn’t adoption be something that would help to reassure you?”
Peter pondered for a minute on his question. “I—I guess you’re right.” He nodded slowly. “I’ll, uh—I’ll give it a proper think over.”
Arthur smiled at him and jotted something down. “I’m not trying to pressure you into anything, okay? If you’re not ready for adoption, or if you think you never want Tony to adopt you, that’s completely fine, okay? I just wanted to make sure that you considered what it could do for you and your mental state.”
Peter nodded. He understood. It gave him a lot to think about. Arthur was right. He was avoiding having the conversation with Tony because he didn’t want to jinx anything. The world couldn’t find a way to fuck up Peter being adopted if Peter never got adopted, right?
Just as usual, after Peter had his talk with Arthur, Tony had his own.
“So, how are things, Tony?” Arthur asked, stretching back in his chair.
Tony bobbed his head from side to side. “I mean the kid’s been struggling, I’m not gonna lie. This week was particularly rough, though. In hindsight, I should’ve rescheduled my business trip, but I totally forgot that May’s birthday was this week and I was already in Japan by the time I realised. He—he skipped his school rehearsal for Academic Decathlon to go to her grave, which I’m not mad about at all, I was just worried cause he didn’t tell anyone where he was going and I guess I’m always gonna be protective of him so I just panicked. I ended up getting an earlier flight home after Bucky picked him up and spent the rest of the night with him.” Tony took a breath. “I don’t think there’s gonna be any more business trips in the near future.”
Arthur nodded and wrote a few things in his notebook. “Okay, so Peter’s feeling a little rough and that’s completely understandable. I also get that he didn’t tell you he was going. I know it’s frustrating, but it doesn’t surprise me that that’s what he did. He was just upset and I guess he wanted some alone time since you weren’t there. Anything else happen this week?”
“Well I found him on the roof yesterday,” Tony started and Arthur’s eyes blew wide. “No! Not like that, I promise. He was just up there trying to find some peace I think, I hope. We had a chat and he said he doesn’t like feeling the way he is at the minute, I talked to him about therapy and how I still have counselling and it helps me and I think he’s open to trying it out. I think it would be good to get another opinion.”
“Alright, that’s good. Maybe just keep an extra eye on him whenever he goes up on the roof. I know he’s a smart kid and he shares what he’s feeling with a little persuasion, but always air on the side of caution with these things. I think therapy is a great idea, bereavement counselling is a good way to help people, especially kids like Peter, cope with the loss of a loved one. Do let me know if you start Peter on with a doctor or if any more concerns arise.” Arthur said and Tony nodded his head, starting to stand up. “Oh, I was going to warn you that I talked to Peter about adoption today.” Tony froze in a slight squat, hovering above the chair.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“I talked to him about adoption and his thoughts about it,” Tony sat back in the seat. “I gather that you’ve spoken about this at some point but maybe it wasn’t recently or maybe it was just fleeting and you’ve pushed it out of your mind but I wanted to tell you. I think he’s scared still of this all being ripped from him because nothing in his life has been permanent, his life has always constantly been changing, whether it’s family members dying or things happening at school, Peter has never had a stable home life, unfortunately. I think that’s making him anxious about the possibilities he has with you, and what something permanent might mean for him.” Arthur explained further. “By all means, talk to Peter about it, but I just thought that it was worth mentioning.”
Tony nodded slowly, trying to take it all in. “Okay, thanks, I’ll make sure to keep it on the back burner and have a chat with him about it at some point.” Arthur stuck out his hand and Tony shook it before leaving the office.
Peter stood up from the chair in the reception area and Tony threw his arm around his shoulder and gave him a little side-hug.
“Come on, kiddo, let’s go get some ice cream and have a chat, huh?”