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[ Logan does come in, but before all else he has to say, ] Just "Wolverine" is fine. It's a code name, not my name-name.

[ Entering the space, his first thought is that it doesn't look like a lab at all. It looks... far more modern, far brighter than Hank's lab did. (But then again, Hank's lab was underground.) ]

Huh. [ He gets a whiff of the place, catching not just Peter's scent, but another man's, as well. Probably whatever's left of this Tony Stark fellow. ] And you've been workin' here alone since Stark left?

Oh - yeah, sorry. Okay, Wolverine. Super cool name, by the way.

[ Better than Dr Strange, lololol ... jk. ]

I tried to - [ Peter starts, making swift steps into the main area. There are tables of equipment, bright lights, and notes and drawings left in neat stacks and rolls strewn about the place. ] - like, for a little while. But it was too much, you know? I think it was only a few weeks before I decided to close shop.

But it's pretty cool, huh?

It's brighter than I'm used to. [ Logan follows with his hands in his pockets, and his Fluid in one set of fingers. He's not forgotten what he came here to do originally, but he's also in no hurry to leave. ]

You open the lab again, what do you plan on doing with it?

I dunno, I guess continue what Mr Stark was doing.

[ Peter shrugs. ]

Helping people. Having an open space for building stuff, if someone wanted to do something.

It'd have to be advertised a little better. Maybe we could like, make a post about it on the network.

[ So it's a helpful enterprise. Logan brushes his fingers over the edge of a table, peering at the open notes that had been left on top of it; the place is mostly clean, but it certainly hadn't been left alone out of choice.

When he brings his fingers up, he rubs the layers of dust accumulated between them. ]

Gonna have to do a little cleaning first. [ That's what he says, but his decision is more or less made. The kid wants to help people and needs help of his own to do it-- Logan might not be especially smart, but he's certainly handy, and even though he can hear Erik laughing in the back of his mind about it, he's always had a soft spot for children (never mind that this one's almost full grown).

He'll check a few more things first, though. ] Where do you keep your tools?

And if there's Network anything, I'm leaving that to you. [ Obviously. ]

[ Wait. Does that mean --

Peter turns back to Logan, all while trying to keep his composure calm and cool and as business-like as possible. Not exactly an easy feat when your heart's about to burst with something like optimism.

He'd never felt great about closing this place down, especially when it's kind of the last thing he's got to remind him of Tony Stark before he left. The Stark-Parker manor is long abandoned now that he's living with Bucky, and - well. Yeah, this place is pretty important in an otherwise bleak landscape. ]

Yeah, yeah, for sure. I can definitely do the network thing. [ His eyes are bright. ] Tools? Sure! Um - follow me. [ Peter leads Logan towards the denser part of the lab where several rows of tall shelving units appear to house drills, soldering irons, blades, pliers, cutters, and a whole other array of likely familiar tools. ] We were using some of this stuff when we built a prosthetic arm for a friend.

[ Familiar is right. Logan picks one of the drills up, cocks his head at it because, Christ, he can't remember the last time he's held a normal power tool, and then feels its weight in his hand before he puts it back where it came from. ]

A prosthetic arm. [ God, "helpful" is right. Logan touches a few of the other tools, sparing the kid a brief glance, and thinks that there are far too many of these things here for just one guy.

But he remembers the mention that other people could come and use these tools to build their own things, so... ]

You in the mood to build anything right now? [ He puts the saw in his hand back on the shelf. ] After you disable my camera, we could pass by the hardware store.

Whoa - really? You wanna - I mean, yeah! Of course, absolutely!

[ Can one person be so enthusiastic? Oh, yes. You can if you're Peter Parker. He nodnodnods, eager to not only build something (and partake in some kind of hardware store field trip) but to prove his value by taking a look at Logan's phone. ]

[ Smiling slightly, Logan lets out a soft chuckle. ] All right.

[ The Fluid's pulled out of his pocket, then held out with a raised brow. ] When you "disable" a camera, do you do something with the... uh... "software"?

Or can you take the whole thing out?

Well, you could take the whole thing out but - uh. I don't wanna wreck the rest of your phone's capabilities. And, you know, maybe one day you might wanna bring the function back.

If I disable its connection from the inside though ... no harm done. I think. I never tried to mess with one of these phones before.

[ Mostly because he actually gets a lot of use out of his camera app. And the video function is kind of useful too. ]

[ "You might wanna bring the function back", Peter says, and Logan gives him a look like kid, who do you think I am-- until he remembers, huh, the kid doesn't really know him, so it's probably best to tone the attitude down.

Albeit reluctantly. ]

Okay. [ So he'll trust him with it and watch Peter do it without asking a thing, mostly because he won't understand it, anyway. ]

How long you been tinkering with things?

[ Peter flips through the Fluid device, scrolling endlessly like he's searching for something. He'll probably need to use one of the computers here to get into it, but ... yeah. He'll probably need a little time to get through it.

Hope you don't have a busy day ahead of you, Logan! ]

Hm? [ Sorry, sorry, he was a little distracted. ] Oh. Like, forever, I guess. [ Which is like, a few years, given Peter's age. ] I mean, my uncle ... he taught me a lot about how things worked. I kinda just continued from there.

Takes a lot of talent to "just continue".

[ Logan doesn't mind following Peter around the lab if he needs to move. It's actually... really familiar, doing that. He remembers flittering about with Hank, too, although he'd been a lot more of a brat than he is with Peter, now.

But he figures in this scenario he's supposed to play the responsible adult. ]

What's the most complex thing you've made?

[ He'd say his webshooters and the fluid ... but that's definitely not gonna come out through his lips. Spending all-nighters getting those gears to turn liquid into elastic, solid, dissolvable string? Yeah. He's pretty proud of that stuff.

Peter thinks about all of the other things he'd done back home in his tiny little room, all the things he'd made after his uncle died.

(And he smiles and shrugs at the complimentary comment.) ]

I mean, aside from the arm, I guess this computer I made from a bunch of different computers. By the end, it was kind of like, this Frankensystem. Kinda cool.

[ It was very retro. ]

Franken... system. [ What Logan gets from this, first and foremost, is a Mary Shelley reference. And the appalled lit professor part of him has to say, ] You know Frankenstein was the name of the doctor, right?

[ But! It is impressive to consider, both on the hardware and software side. He might not know shit about programming, but he knows enough about building to be aware of the complications of combining different technical designs. ] So this computer had all the "power" of the others combined, or? You just made a new one out of other parts?

[ Pfft.

Peter nods, making a sound. ] Of course I know that, yeah. I mean ... it's just like, one of those things people say. It's not the same when you say something like, 'Frankenstein's Monster's System' you know?

[ Aaaanywho ... ]

It was more like, I made a decent working one out of a bunch of parts. I don't think the power of the old systems was gonna be enough, and besides, most of the internal stuff isn't compatible with each other.

For fun?

Uh - yeah.

[ He sounds almost embarrassed. ]

It also kinda reminds me of my uncle when I get to do stuff like that.

[ Logan's head tilts. ]

...I like cigars because they remind me of my father.

[ It seemingly comes out of nowhere, but he's been asking so many questions, it makes sense to even the playing field a little. ]

Drawing, too. But I don't know how to draw anything without having something to copy. [ He shrugs. ] I'll do it anyway, sometimes. When I miss him.

[ At that, Peter looks up at Logan, almost as though he might be looking for the joke or the lie in his words. He hasn't really spoken about his uncle since he'd died, greatly because he feels an endless abyss of guilt over it, but also because it tends to make his aunt sad.

But Logan is so sincere, and when he continues, it's comforting. He nods, glancing back down at the Fluid device in his hands so it looks as though he's speaking to it when he asks: ]

Was your dad like, an artist?

[ The point is that he understands. The point is that there're people you remember most when you do things that they loved-- Peter with his uncle, Logan with his father.

Nothing binds a friendship quite like loss, he thinks.

The question has him shaking his head. ] Nah. Our family owned an estate and we had workers come for their nine to five, so he was more like a business owner, I guess. [ He doesn't really know the term. ]

I was sick all the time, though, so I'd stay inside. I don't know how old I was when Father suggested drawing for a hobby.

And out of all the indoor things I did, that was the one that made him smile most.

That's a really nice memory.

[ Peter nods, still looking at the Fluid device though he's since stopped fiddling around with it the moment they began to talk about their families and the people they lost back home. ]

My memories of my uncle were good ones too.

[ Maybe all but the very last one, but he doesn't say so. ]

Doing stuff like fixing things around the apartment. He always used to say he wasn't as smart as my dad or whatever, but I didn't believe him.

No offence to him, but you were probably right not to. [ Believe him, that is. Logan smiles slightly. ]

There're lots of different ways to be smart. Lemme tell you, I bet half of these Sleepers wouldn't even know how to fix their own houses if things went to shit.

[ He sighs a bit. ] I gotta fix mine too one of these days, once I have enough cash. It's been messed up to hell.

Yeah.

[ Peter smiles too.

And he agrees wholeheartedly with Logan's definition of smartness. He's good with building stuff, chemistry, maths, but put him in a social situation and he's 'Penis Parker', the loser with the one friend.

According to Flash, anyway.

Maybe he's wrong too.

Peter's friends with the Avengers, after all. ]

What do you mean? Where do you live?

I mean what I mean. [ Messed up is as accurate as can be, especially given he isn't the type for exaggeration. ] I live on Howard Hill, and... [ There's a moment of silence, like Logan's mourning something. ]

There's a hole in my kitchen wall, for one thing.

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me talkin' out of my arse

i love fake tech talk

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