Chapter 1
The house was nice. Tony did a good job picking it out. Apparently, he’d hired a couple of guys to give it some upgrades, including setting up FRIDAY within the home, which Justin thought was excessive. But the thought was nice, anyway.
Justin unlocked the door and held it open for Rhodey, who had two suitcases with him. Steve carried another one, and Sephy was behind him, holding the purple cat that Red had sent her the previous Christmas.
They put the suitcases in the hallway and Justin went to the cupboards, looked in them.
“Wow, Tony really has thought of everything. There’s even food in here. I’m guessing that there’s stuff in the fridge too,” Justin said, taking out a bag of pasta. The interior of the house was pretty modern, despite the old exterior. Justin could see some stairs leading down to the basement, where he could only presume was a lab.
He hadn’t been back to Ebbing ever since he went to college. Jason came back to become a cop, god knows why.
Ebbing was a quiet sort of town, nothing interesting ever happened, apart from a murder about three years ago. Angela Hayes, a teenager, was raped and then stabbed and burned. They caught the killer, but Jason never told him who it was.
“Dad, can I go and pick my room?” Sephy asked.
“Sure thing, Seph, knock yourself out. We’re leaving soon to go see your uncle, okay?” He asked. Sephy nodded and ran upstairs.
“J, got the last of the stuff in,” Rhodey said. “Steve’s on his way out.”
“Great! I’ll give Jason a ring and see what’s going on,” Justin said. He pulled out his phone and rang up his brother.
“The prodigal son returns!” Jason said.
Justin laughed. “Not damn likely. How’s stuff at your end?”
“Well, we got up about fifteen minutes ago. Red’s making breakfast,” Jason said.
“Jace, it’s quarter past three in the afternoon.”
“Yeah, and? We sleep in most weekends,” Jason replied.
“Jesus, well, we just arrived, so once you idiots have eaten, then why don’t you come over?”
“Yeah, yeah, we can do that,” Jason said. “See you guys soon, then.”
~~~~~~~~~~
“Uncle Jason!” Sephy said, running down the steps and flinging herself into her uncle’s arms. Jason lifted her up and hugged her tight.
“Jesus, you’re bigger than I expected,” he said, stepping backwards to steady himself. Red put a hand on Jason’s back to steady him. “How are you, kid?”
“I’m good,” Sephy said, letting Jason put her back down. Justin stepped forward and hugged Jason, then gave Red a confused look.
“Were you always this tall?” Justin asked. Red snorted.
“Nice to see you too, little man,” Red replied. Justin gave him an unimpressed look and punched him in the stomach. When Red doubled over coughing, Justin rolled his eyes.
“Come on! It wasn’t even that hard,” Justin said. Sephy giggled, grabbed Jason’s hand and ran back inside. Jason followed with an ‘oh god, alright’, and Rhodey stepped forward to place a gentle hand on Justin’s shoulder.
“J, you do realise that the self defence lessons you got from Natasha mean that you punch really hard now, right?” Rhodey asked. Justin gasped and put a hand over his mouth.
“Shit! Sorry Red,” Justin said, helping him back up. “I didn’t realise.”
Red gasped for a few seconds. “Yeah, no shit. Jesus fuck.” Red straightened back up with a sigh. “Anyway, it’s nice to see you again, Justin.”
“Yeah, it’s been too long,” Justin said.
“And you’re Colonel Rhodes,” Red said, going to shake Rhodey’s hand.
“Yep. I go by Rhodey,” the man in question said.
“Yeah, according to him it’s a standing joke from MIT,” Justin said.
“Quite the nickname,” Red said. “Nice to meet the ‘grumpy overprotective boyfriend’ I’ve heard so much about but never actually met.”
Rhodey gave Justin a look. “Overprotective? Really?”
“Rhodey, you glared at Steve, Steve, when he wrapped an arm around my shoulder the other day, I mean come on, it’s Steve, he’s like an overgrown puppy.”
“Oookay, I’m going to go inside before this turns into a real fight,” Red said. Rhodey and Justin followed him in, where Jason was telling Sephy stories about when they were younger.
“Yeah, and then he fell over and landed his face on-”
“Are we really telling that story?” Justin asked. “I mean, come on, Jace, tell us about what‘s been going on since I’ve last been here.”
“Justin, it’s been ten years since you’ve last been here,” Jason said.
“Yeah, so update us please,” Justin said.
“Well, Mildred Hayes’s son’s gone to college,” Jason said. “James is good, y’know, the midget?”
“Yeah, I remember him,” Justin said. “Funny guy.”
“He has a crush on Mildred,” Jason said, laughing. “It’s so damn funny.” Red tried not to laugh too.
“It is very funny,” Red said.
“What about her husband?” Justin asked.
“He’s dating a college student,” Red replied. Justin winced. “I agree with you there. It makes everyone uncomfortable.”
“Well, let’s just hope that we don’t see them then, huh?” Justin said.
“Yeah,” Jason said. “To be honest, not much has changed social scene wise apart from the fact that no-one calls me and Red fags anymore, so that’s nice.”
“It is very nice,” Red agreed.
“Do you agree with everything Jason says or do you just agree with him on a few things?” Rhodey asked.
“Shut up.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Sephy had long gone to bed and Justin and Rhodey were sitting together on the sofa drinking beer.
“Did you take a look at the bracelet that Tony gave you in the end?” Rhodey asked.
“No, actually, let’s do that,” Justin said. He exposed the bracelet and pressed the button Tony had indicated.
Suddenly a voice came, female like FRIDAY, though without the accent that FRIDAY possessed.
“Hello. I am Eirene. It is lovely to make your acquaintance.” She had, of all things, a Brooklyn accent. “I am a security system designed to co-operate with FRIDAY to ensure the general safety of your family, as instructed by Mr Stark.”
“Well damn,” Rhodey said, looking up. “He didn’t need to do all that.”
“Holy shit!” Justin exclaimed. “Does that man ever stop working on something?”