Chapter Text
With both the Wakandans and Asgardians in temporary residence, the Tower was put on short-term lockdown. For security reasons, of course. Keith couldn’t care less about the reason, but the fact of the matter was that he was now trapped with not only the people he still didn’t quite trust, but also a whole lot of new people who also happen to be freaking royalty and/or aliens.
Staying out from underfoot was a… challenge, to say the least, though Keith took special care to stay clear of the unpredictable variables like the princess and, despite his relative impressiveness, Thor. The main issue was the fact that they all took up so much space. There was hardly anywhere for Keith to hide.
Floor by floor, he dodged up and away from the paths of meandering guests, until he found himself on a level that was relatively unoccupied, and up-till-now unexplored. Seeing as FRIDAY hadn’t warned him away yet, he assumed that he had permission to be here. Exploring further, Keith peeked around half-open doors and pushed open a few unlocked ones. Only ten minutes in, he came across the Holy Grail.
One of Tony Stark’s labs.
Stepping inside, the dark-haired boy glanced around, taking it all in. Organized, well-stocked, lights flickering on overhead as he moved away from the door. It appeared… well, not neglected, but in disuse. If he had to make a guess, he would say that no one had worked in this lab for quite a while.
Surely no one would care if he poked around a bit to satisfy his curiosity, right?
Though, poking around at the machines turned into playing with a box of parts he found tucked into a corner turned into sitting in the middle of the floor with bits and pieces strewn around and had him elbow-deep in the guts of a half-constructed hoverbike. He had no idea how long he had been working, but he didn’t particularly care. There was something cathartic about the work. A kind of release he hadn’t been able to find since… well, Shiro.
Keith shook his head harshly and shifted on his knees to reach into a particularly tight spot to align a piece that he knew would help regulate the energy being fed into the engines, despite not knowing its name. It’s not like he took the engineer path at the Garrison. He only learned enough to maintain an MFE and a few different kinds of cargo ships, lessons from Shiro and the odd book on hoverbike construction aside. And it had been so long since he had access to any of that...
But these parts were right in front of him, these tools were heavy in his hands, and he couldn’t clearly remember the last time he had felt so grounded.
The lab was peaceful, the electric hum of the lights and the occasional clank of his tools rattling against the bike’s parts the only sounds to break the silence.
Until they weren’t, that is.
“You do realize bikes have wheels, right?”
Keith just barely stopped himself from flinging the screwdriver in his hand at Stark’s head, and also experienced a brief moment of regret that he did. “Not this one.”
The billionaire smirked and leaned against the vehicle, as nonchalant as you please. “What, it’s not supposed to actually move? Is it some kind of art installment?”
He rolled his eyes and hunched over the batteries hitched up to the bike’s underbelly to hook them up to the hover mechanisms. “Any particular reason you’re here?”
“I should be asking you that question. This is my lab, after all.”
Keith peered up at Stark tiredly. “You gonna kick me out?”
The smirk widened. “Not if you tell me what you’re little project is.”
“You’re a genius,” Keith retorted, returning to his work and straightening out a few tangled wires. “You figure it out.”
The lab is quiet for a moment, and Keith almost startles when he realizes that Stark had actually taken him up on the challenge. The man had knelt next to him, his gaze roaming over the inner workings of the bike with something like interest.
Finally, the man sat back on his heels, giving a low whistle of admiration. “No, you wouldn’t need wheels on that lady, would you?” He barked a laugh. “You know, my old man was working on hovertech for a car back during the Second World War. I never really pursued it.”
Keith nodded along. He’d read about Howard Starks advancements in the field of hover-technology, of course. His research had been referenced in the users manual of the hoverbike he’d rode with Shiro, and he’d gone and looked the man up during some of his limited spare time at the Garrison.
“So,” Stark’s tone shifted to something the boy couldn’t quite parse. “Where’d you learn to build something like this?”
Oh, tension, his old friend. Keith put down the screwdriver and turned his head to look over his shoulder. Stark’s expression was genuinely intrigued, and more intense than Keith had ever seen him outside of his Iron Man armor.
“I used to own one,” Keith offered, as off-hand as he could manage, hiding his face with the machine again. “Shiro and I would…”
A lump rose in his throat, closing it off. No more words would come. So much for passing it off casually.
“Ah,” and wow Keith didn’t know Stark could sound so uncomfortable. “It’s really well made.”
Keith glanced up at him, hands stilled in disbelief. “Says the genius inventor?”
“Says the genius inventor,” Stark agrees, climbing to his feet. “You figure out how you’re going to shape the paneling yet?”
He grimaced. “Not really. I’ve been making it up as I go.”
“Pretty impressive. Did you take mechanical engineering?”
“Actually, no.” Now it was Keith’s turn to smirk. “I don’t even know what half of these parts are called. I just know what they do.”
Stark lifted an eyebrow. “Impressive. Want the lab?”
Keith had experienced whiplash before, it’s an occupational hazard when learning tricks on a hoverbike, especially when one of those tricks is driving straight off a cliff. This, however, was a whole different ball game. “What?”
“The lab.” And damn it Stark was smugging again. “You want it?”
After years spent with disappointment and false promises, Keith didn’t trust the offer in the slightest. He narrowed his eyes. “And the catch?”
Keith had expected him to become offended, or brush him off, but instead he laughed. “Clever kid. Anyway, I was thinking that if you have a place to hole up and keep yourself busy, you’d be more, you know…” He waved a hand vaguely in the general direction of the door.
Keith gave him a Look.
Stark heaved a sigh and rubbed the back of his closed eyelids. “Look, kid, I get it. You don’t trust us, and you probably don’t even like us very much. The others, though? The Avengers? They’re interested. Spider-Man’s been talking you up since Daredevil brought you in. He thinks your cool. Could you give ‘em a chance?”
Wow, the hoverbike suddenly got so much more interesting. What if he got rid of the extra power dampener, how fast could he make it go before the force of the engine rattles it apart?
“Keith.”
His head snaps up. Stark… didn’t use his name. Hardly ever.
“Keith,” he says again, softer, giving the boy his second heart attack. “They just want to help. We just want to help.”
After a brief pause, Keith relents. “Fine.” He rolls his shoulders, rising fluidly to his feet. “But I reserve the right to leave if they get annoying. And I’m taking the lab.”
Stark snorted. “Of course you are. If you can build a hoverbike, it would be criminal to keep you away from it.”
Tentatively, Keith smiled. Maybe… maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.