Chapter Text
Peter had not been here in such a long time, but he could still remember exactly where everything was, even in the current total darkness. This was something that he was so glad for at this moment. It was like a balm to his troubled mind to be somewhere this familiar, somewhere that he recognised from the life before… everything, even if the air was kind of stale in here, as if the windows had been closed for far too long. He flipped on the first light switch by the door, clicking on the overhead light over the space by the locked entrance that he’d just walked through, and which he’d heard lock once again behind him. He was safe here, even if he was alone. The latter was the standard state of affairs for him these days, but to be completely sure of the former was unfamiliar. It allowed the knot in his chest to loosen slightly, lessening its hold around his lungs and his heart, just for a moment.
He cast his tired eyes around, looking at all the familiar sights that were now illuminated. He smiled as he looked over at what had once been “his” workstation. It had never been this tidy when he'd actually been using it. Someone must have cleaned it up at some point. Oh well, it didn't really matter. There was the mark on the edge he’d made the day he’d gripped the table too tight in excitement over an experiment and had left a handprint in the metal. In his mortification, he’d offered to help work it out and buff it, but Mr Stark had thought it was funny. He said that it made it unique, and he was happy to have it. Mr Stark had clearly never replaced the workstation, even when Peter had disappeared, essentially died, for five years.
Back to the present, he had been surprised at how easy it had been to get in here, but after he’d made it past the unmanned front gate with the tried-out code “baby spider” that had been set years ago, he figured it was worth a shot. It was nearing 2.15 in the morning, and he’d timed his biometric entry attempt at the front gate with when he knew the guard was going for a 75 second perimeter sweep (he'd been observing the pattern for nearly a week now). Luckily it had worked, and he’d been granted instant access, allowing him to slip inside the facility and for no alarms or other alerts to even hint at his presence. He was here because he needed somewhere to synthesise his web fluid in larger quantities, and his crappy apartment was just not cutting it for doing that. This was a much better solution.
He moved further into the space and the now-motion sensor lights shuttered on as he walked further. He smiled as the expansive lab came into full view.
‘Hello Peter.’
He jumped as a disembodied voice came from seemingly the thin air around him, his arms coming up with his webshooters ready and armed as a kneejerk reaction to being caught off his guard momentarily. If he’d had a second to think about it, he would have realised his spider senses (now oh so attuned) hadn’t even tingled before the voice had spoken.
‘F.R.I.D.A.Y?’ he asked hesitantly, even though he had recognised the lilting soft Irish voice instantly. He was just a little startled to hear it after all this time, which is why he questioned it.
‘Yes Peter,’ she said. ‘Welcome back. It’s been a while.’
‘How did you know it was me?’ he slowly lowered his arms and relaxed from his rigid defensive posture. He was safe here, he could relax, he reminded himself.
‘Are you quite alright Peter? How would I not know you? You’ve been coming here for years, although it has been some time since I last saw you.’
Peter was still stood by the damaged table, having been rooted there when F.R.I.D.A.Y had first spoken, now he dropped his bag beside it and carefully moved into the room, next to one of the computers that was currently powered down. He was still looking up at the ceiling which is how he’d always spoken to F.R.I.D.A.Y, even though it didn’t really make sense as she was technically everywhere.
‘But… Dr Strange…’
He gestured with hands, making a whirly circle, not really knowing how to expand on that statement without about thirty minutes of rambling on his part. Thankfully he didn’t have to as F.R.I.D.A.Y filled in the blanks about what he was trying to say.
‘Dr Strange made everybody who knew Peter Parker forget. I am not a “body”, or even really an “every,” so therefore I did not forget.’
Peter felt like he’d been hit by a truck, and he definitely knew what that felt like, having been hit by more than a few in his time. He staggered slightly and reached out to hold himself up by the edge of table, uncaring if he left another dent in it or not. Having someone know who he was felt like an embrace, even it was a disembodied AI who had no official form. It had been such a long time since someone had said his name and known the story behind it, not just because he had only just given it to them in order to get a coffee or to book a hair appointment.
‘Oh,’ he said, feeling winded but trying to recover. ‘Has anyone else been here since…?’
He tailed off, hoping that F.R.I.D.A.Y would be able to fill in the gaps of his scattered speech pattern like she had done before.
‘These laboratories are designated for level one clearance personnel only,’ F.R.I.D.A.Y intoned from above. ‘That was a very short list; Mr Stark, Dr Banner, Colonel Rhodes, Miss Potts, Mr Hogan, and yourself.’
‘And they… they… haven’t been here since… ahem… since Thanos was killed?’
He shuddered, his memory pulling him back to exactly what that had cost, before he managed to wrench himself free from it, like he had to do every time he thought about it.
‘Colonel Rhodes has little need to work in a laboratory. Dr Banner has his own facilities in Utah. Miss Potts, and Mr Hogan have generally avoided this part of the building for personal reasons.’
And then the next second, he really did fall over, sitting down heavily on the floor beside where he had dropped his bag.
‘And as for me? Well, I never left.’
‘M-M-Mr Stark?’
‘In the flesh Pete… well, not quite.’