Stark Industries, Monday

[endsthegame]

Ender still had a job. It was ridiculous how easy it was to fall back into his Fandom routine; even this part of it. He got to Stark's early as he had always done, so he'd have time to check the store for any of Fandom's whimsy that might mess with fragile machinery.

He wasn't disappointed. The first thing he found when he checked the workshop was a nest made out of wires, a perfect little circle with two medium-sized mangos resting comfortably in the middle.

Checking the rest of the store netted him several more nests made of wiring and other potentially hazardous material. He wound up spending most of the morning just cleaning up, going through every computer that his new employer hadn't taken apart to make sure nothing would wind up exploding.

He was also wondering if maybe he should get Tony something to cope with the shock of Howard being here, but that would have to wait.

[[ open! ]]

Comments

[momslilassassin]

"Ho, kreetle," Ben said, walking into the shop with lunch and coffee. "Did Tony buy the shop and forget to tell us?"

[doyoufondue.livejournal.com]

"I'm starting to get jealous of whoever this Tony fellow is with how much people are talking about him," Howard said, dumping the remnants of a box. Ah, unpacking. It would be nice to have assistants to do this for him.

[momslilassassin]

Ben didn't jump, but he did look slightly startled (with a tiny part of his brain wonder just what age Starks started growing silly facial hair). "He's a friend of ours," Ben explained. "You have the same last name."

[doyoufondue.livejournal.com]

If by silly, he meant awesome... in their twenties.

"Strange, isn't it?" he asked offering a hand to shake. "Howard."

[momslilassassin]

Ben shook the offered hand and gave the man a small smile. "Ben. Skywalker. It's nice to meet you."

...alive.

[doyoufondue.livejournal.com]

"Another one of my inherited employees," Howard replied, looking into another box to find one of those mango nests. "Huh."

[momslilassassin]

"It'll probably wear off tomorrow," Ben told him helpfully, pointing to the nest. "I woke up in a bigger version of that this morning."

[doyoufondue.livejournal.com]

"Do I even want to ask?"

[momslilassassin]

Ben thought about that. "Probably not," he admitted. "Just know that you aren't going crazy, you didn't eat anything hallucinogenic--probably, I don't know where the mango came from--and it'll go away on its own most of the time. How long have you been on the island?"

[doyoufondue.livejournal.com]

"Since yesterday morning," Howard replied, carefully placing the nest to the side in order to pull out books. Honest to god books. Somewhere, Tony was confused as to what those paper things were. "And managed to survive the shock of the year with panache."

[momslilassassin]

"Which part do you think was the shock?" Ben checked.

[doyoufondue.livejournal.com]

"That I'm a positively spry for someone in their nineties."

[momslilassassin]

"Oh, time lag!" Ben said, nodding. "My grandfather's here and isn't thirty yet."

[endsthegame]

"Not Tony," Ender said, with a sigh. "His dad. We might have a situation."

[momslilassassin]

"Probably," Ben agreed, "since Tony's dad isn't exactly--"

He wasn't going to say "alive" aloud because he knew Ender would get it.

[endsthegame]

"I had been thinking about dropping by," Ender replied. "He's going to find out when radio hits, if it hasn't already."

[momslilassassin]

"Not a bad idea," Ben said. "We certainly have experience with timeline brain hurt."

[endsthegame]

"And he might be able to use a little backup."

[momslilassassin]

"Of course," Ben agreed, nodding. "I'd completely freak if Mom showed up."

[endsthegame]

Ender quirked a little smile. "I promise I'll run interference if that ever happens."

And probably wind up snuggling Ben for about a month.

[momslilassassin]

And wouldn't that just be terrible!

"Thank you," Ben said. "I'll be hiding under my bed."

[endsthegame]

Ender reached over and gave his shoulder a gentle nudge.

"So what else is up?" he said. "Beds okay yet?"

Sigh, nests.

[momslilassassin]

He sighed. "No, and they're awfully itchy to lay on. Not that I really need a nap or anything."

[endsthegame]

"Taking that through the Skywalker translation matrix, you're exhausted and you need a nap," Ender said, cheerfully.

[momslilassassin]

"I slept last night!" Ben retorted.

Four whole hours!