"looks like another few minutes in the tarmac" i text peter. my hands are shaky. i can't do this.
"ok. i'll leave for the airport in 30." happy could've driven me, but peter insisted. he knew how nervous i was about this. he had helped mom after dad died, and was always there for me. now, dad was back, but not the same. i didn't think i could go and see him. what if the quantum warped picked him up too early and he didn't remember me? riri warned me that it was possible, but peter said that he seemed to remember me once he came back.
the plane sped across the runway, taking the air. i could've taken the suit, or a stark industries jet, but i couldn't look at that name right now. i just wanted to feel normal. i wanted it to feel like i was just going back home to visit my dad, not like he was being brought back to life after being dead for 15 years. and the flight was too long for the suit.
i spent the flight reading. i decided to take bruce's class at MIT, and he had sent me a bunch of articles to make up for the classes i was missing. he was going to visit my dad over the weekend. he was my only support system at school. peter was too busy crime-fighting in new york, as well as managing all internships at stark industries. riri has been focused on making this quantum warper that we had barely seen her leave the garage for something other than dinner in 6 months. scott was travelling the world, teaching quantum physics. he had come to MIT last month for a seminar, but tickets sold so quickly i didn't have the opportunity to see him teach. he did visit me though. rhodey is running for state senator in new york, so i haven't seen him recently, other than speaking in a rally. pepper was too busy as head of stark industries, and happy went wherever she went. i really only took bruce's class so i had someone i could be with who understood my situation. it's not like your dorm roommate understands being a stark, the new iron (wo)man, and top of the class. also, i didn't have a roommate. she moved out after complaining that i disturbed her "private time". in other words, i walked in on her doing it with her boyfriend. it was after a trip to new york to help peter.
my plane landed, and i hadn't checked my bag, so i walked into the lobby, where peter was waiting. i pretty much ran to him, and he engulfed me in a massive hug. we didn't see each other often, and if we did, we were fighting crime or aliens on the northeast coast. he was pretty much my brother, and only grew closer to our family after tony died.
the death hit him hard. i don't remember much from when i was younger, but i remember he would always act really happy around me, so i would feel better. but once, late at night, i saw him sitting in the couch with my mom and happy. he was crying, so was mom, and happy was trying to comfort them. i remember being confused when dad didn't come home. it took a while for me to understand what happened, and took longer to hear the full story. when i took over the mantle of iron man, peter sat me down and explained what had happened. for most of my life, i only had stories of dad, and faded memories of sneaking in the garage and finding his old gear, which he always told me not to do.
now, i was about to go home. and he would be there. flesh and blood.
peter help me carry my bags out to the car. he updated me on tony's condition, explaining that the warper has made an exact clone of him during the final battle, and taken the real one to our timeline, leaving the clone. the clone had all of his memories, and was pretty much just him.
meaning he never really died in our timeline. it was always a clone.
so now the tony of our timeline was in bed, healing from wounds given by thanos. he was totally healthy otherwise, and pretty much begging to leave the bed to see the quantum warper. riri and pepper explained everything that had happened since the battle. he had perfect recollection of everything before and during the fight. he even remembered riri, who he had only seen once before, a few years before i was born.
tony even remembered me. 4 year old me. pepper had told him every acheivement, every perfect score, every tiny think i had dont since he had died. peter said he cried looking at pictures of me. he was beyond proud.
when we pulled up to the house, happy was waiting at the door. he hugged me, and told me, again, that tony was doing very well, and that the stitches from his wounds were healing nicely.
"riri's in the garage. you should visit her before you go in. she can give you a prep on all the... sciency stuff." i thanked him, and he carried my bags inside.
riri was working in the garage, already onto a new project. scott was there, too, tweaking some things in the quantum warper. they gave me the same run down peter had given me.
"just be gentle. he's healing." riri warned. i nodded.
"also, relax. you're super tense," scott put down his wrench, putting a hand on my shoulder. "he's really excited to see you." i smiled slightly.
i opened the garage door to the kitchen. there he was. standing next to pepper.
flesh and blood.
in the kitchen.
he froze when he saw me. not using anyone as support, he walked slowly over to me, looking shocked.
i felt tears falling down my face. he looked exactly the same. just like i remembered.
he cupped my face with his hands, as if he was studying ever single feature of my face. he looked a little beat up, with a black eye and stitches on his cheek
"don't cry. it's ok," he whispered, and i hugged him, burying my face in his shoulder, letting out sobs. "i missed you, morgan."
"i missed you so much." i choked between sobs.
"i love you 3000."
