Who: Jim Rhodes & Tony Stark (MCU) When: June 6th, 2018 (Backdated) Where: Malibu House: Living Room What: Tony gets a chance to mother hen Rhodey, Rhodey prods Tony about his romantic life a bit. Warnings: None Status: Complete
Without fully realizing it, Jim had somehow gotten a job as a full time kiss ass, while he tried to wheedle power and funding out of the stuffy bureaucrats his credentials had gotten him access to. And Jim was definitely putting in the overtime, spending nearly the time from sunrise to sunset, sitting in waiting rooms and offices, pleading his case time after time to anyone that would hear it.
It was only now in the third (fourth? He wasn't sure, he was losing track of time) week of his mission that he was starting to make some kind of headway. A shadier member of the government had sent him word he wanted to meet, that Jim could potentially get what he was asking for, but the earliest they could meet was the 17th. So finally, Jim decided he would go back to Tumbleweed a few days early and maybe sleep for a full eight hours like he had been badgering Tony to.
He didn't even make it to his room, before he kicked off his shoes, and laid down on the living room couch to take a quick nap. He just needed to close his eyes for a few minutes and then he'd have energy to make it to his room…
It had taken him a few weeks, but Tony had finally hit the sweet spot of productivity, sleep, and everything else that Jim had been harping on him about. Sure, it was not the requested eight full hours, but he also was not having any manic episodes at four in the morning either. He had experienced a minor setback when the Thanos news hit, followed by the power swap incident, but Peter Parker’s arrival had forced Tony back on track.
It was just after midnight when Tony emerged from his workshop, climbing the circular staircase while he read from his tablet. He had taken to downloading doctoral dissertations and masters theses from this universe’s MIT as a bit of light, humorous reading before bed. Everything he had read thus far was decades behind the technology in his own universe, though there were a few promising brains he might like to collaborate with in the future. He was holding his own draft for a fantasy science league that might, potentially, not be so fantasy in the future.
When he crossed the living room, he noticed Jim sprawled out on the couch as if he had all but collapsed there. At least he had managed to take off his shoes, Tony noticed. Any other person might have sympathy for a clearly exhausted man. Would maybe put a blanket over him or dim the lights. Instead, Tony plopped down on the long sofa next to Rhodey’s head, kicked his feet up onto the coffee table, and began to read from his tablet at presentation volume. “The energy of electrons is determined from a combination of the electron momentum at the primary interaction vertex as determined by the tracker, the energy of the corresponding ECAL cluster, and the energy sum of all bremsstrahlung photons spatially compatible with originating from the electron track.”
Startled into a waking status against his will, when Jim jerked awake, he let loose a very emphatic, “Motherfucker!” and fell off the couch. His leg braces made a grinding noise upon impact and more heated cursing followed. It took Jim a minute or two to actually take in his surroundings and when he saw Tony's smug ass sitting right where he had been sleeping, he glared.
Swiftly, he punched the side of Tony's thigh that was closest to him and clambered back up onto the sofa. “You're an asshole, you know that, right?” He grumbled, as he straightened out his legs and let his head fall back into the sofa cushions. He closed his eyes, attempting to get his heartbeat back to normal after his unpleasant awakening.
Tony smiled broadly, deeply satisfied with the havoc he had wrought. “I thought about getting J.A.R.V.I.S. to play ‘Reveille,’ but even I didn’t want to hear that.” When Rhodey repositioned himself on the couch and closed his eyes, Tony gave him a nudge on the shoulder with his elbow. “You’re so tired you can’t stay awake for two minutes?”
He knew that Jim had been busy laying the groundwork for his little black ops team, but he had not realized he had stretched himself quite so thin.
“You realize I'm fully willing and capable of throwing your ass out, yeah? JARVIS would have my back and I'm pretty sure I can get Bruce on my side too,” Jim threatened, absolutely no heat in his voice. As a matter of fact, he sounded like he was close to nodding off again, now that his brain had received the message that there was no threat to his being, just Tony around.
Still, he denied his weariness when Tony called him on it and nudged him back. “I'm awake, but at what cost?” His eyes opened to the tiniest of slits and he rolled his head so he could actually see the other man and get a good look at him. The stark lack of goatee threw him off. He hadn't been home since the weekend, having stayed in their other apartment while he had been working on the team. He hadn't been paying much attempt to the network either and had missed this new development. Frowning and completely lacking any hangups about personal space, he reached out and tapped Tony's chin. “What happened, you lose a bet? Lost control of your razor? Or did you and Banner get drunk and do something dumb? He running around rocking a cueball?”
Tony shrugged, unconcerned. “There’s always the guest house.”
He smiled as Jim inspected his beardless face, which was now sporting a bit of stubble. “Oh, spotted that, did you.” It was the first time he had lacked any sort of facial hair since the mid-90s. At first, it threw him off every time he saw his reflection, but as the week wore on, he found he actually kind of liked it.
“As much as I would love to say ‘yes’ to the cueball, lost a bet,” he confirmed reluctantly, “with the Shrubwitch.” He was quick to add, “It was a photo finish.” Still not quite able to admit he had lost. “Magic. It’s practically cheating anyway.”
There was something youthful about his face when it was free of hair that took Jim back to their post-MIT days and it did make him smile a little fondly once he got over the initial, ‘What the fuck?’ God, the 90s had been something else and most of that decade had been good.
“What did you bet over?” He asked, prodding Tony's face a little more before dropping his hand on his lap and relaxing again. Jim knew Julia and Tony were close, but didn't know how close. He wanted to ask, but wasn't sure if he wanted to know either. It was just easier for his head and heart if he remained oblivious.
“Remember that whole power swap fiasco?” Somehow, Tony and Julia had managed to keep their responsibility in the whole affair quiet. Most of the Displaced seemed to have chalked it up to regularly-scheduled weirdness from their friendly, neighborhood, multiverse portal. “I let her loose in my workshop. After the whole Freaky Friday thing resolved itself, she found some notes she had made, and suspected she could resolve an issue with the cooling system on the Mark XLII faster and more efficiently with magic. I’m the dumbass who argued in favor of my own approach. Et voilà.” He shrugged. Shaving his goatee had felt a bit like he was removing a part of himself. Fortunately, it would grow back, if he decided he needed it to.
“So that’s my excuse for this,” he ran the knuckles of his index finger along his bare jawline. “What’s yours?” Tony nudged Rhodey with his elbow again. “I haven’t seen you work this hard in years.” It was probably true.
“You two sure are cozying up nicely. Should the gossip mill be running or is this another Bruce Banner situation again?” Okay, so maybe he was more curious than he wanted to be about what was going on with Julia and Tony. Sue him.
Elbowing Tony back, he shrugged. “Starting over takes a lot of work. I didn’t have money or my old shop come through,” Jim said, a little bitterly, reminded once again about everything he had lost by being brought into this new portal situation. Not for the first time, he hurt at the thought of Jessica not being by his side until they grew old. “So, gotta grind until I get back to what I’m used to. I think I’m getting close, I think I found the white whale that’s going to make all this achievable.”
Tony gave an ambiguous sort of shrug, as his lips curled into a half-smirk that was a bit more telling. He was well aware that pursuing anything other than friendship with Julia was more than a little ill-advised, even without the age difference to contend with. Still, she did not make it easy.
“Not a whole lot I can do for you on my end. It's not like I have the contacts or the contracts I did back home.” Home for Tony at least. He was still trying to make peace with the fact that Rhodey had set up a new home, one that did not include him. After nearly 30 years of friendship, he had become greedy, always expecting the other man to be there. Then when he thought he had almost lost him in Germany, well… Tony was a little more sensitive to his comings and goings now than he used to be. “Still, if I can give you a hand, let me know. Don't see how you expect to o get anything accomplished when your ass is dragging like this.”
“That wasn’t an answer,” he pointed out, knowing that Tony never made it easy for him to get anything out him. Blood from a stone, practically. But he didn’t push, deciding to let the man go at his own pace. He’d tell him if it became something.
Clapping Tony on the shoulder, he said, “You’re doing what you can. Keep monitoring the situation to make sure I’m not drawing any unwanted attention and I’ll do the rest.” Tony might not think he was doing a lot for him, but it was comforting knowing that there were eyes and ears out there watching his back, making sure he didn’t put this whole community in danger because he needed to feel like he was doing something worthwhile. Waving aside the concern Tony was showing, he added, “Relax. I get something of a break until Monday. I’ll make the most of it and relax, unlike you. What time is it again?” The question was pointed, referencing the late hour and the fact that Tony was up, with not a hint of sleep in his eyes, to give him shit.
“There's nothing to tell. I’ve got that little voice in my head that sounds just like you telling me, 'Tony, no. She's like five.’” As if the age difference and not the risk any romantic entanglements might pose to their blossoming friendship was the real issue.
Tony looked down at his tablet. “12:34.” Having noted the tone in Rhodey's voice, he added, “I was just calling it a night. How long have you been in a vegetative state on the couch?”
“I mean, add another twenty years and you’re close.” The actual Rhodey and not the one in Tony’s head, was fighting very hard to be fair about it all. “She’s half your age, but she’s old enough to make her own decisions. So, just be wise about whatever moves you make. Because if you haven’t noticed, a former USO showgirl has been making moves on you too.” Which, given his last reality, wasn’t very surprising to him.
Running a hand over his head, before scratching his chin, he squinted as he tried to remember when he got in. “Maybe an hour? It was definitely after 11 when I got back.”
“When have you ever known me to be wise, Rhodey?” Intelligent, yes. But wise? Questionable.
Tony snorted. “Who, Rogers?” He was amused by the showgirl quip. That one was easier for him to navigate somehow. He had already wrapped his brain around the idea that Captain America was into men. Tony was vain enough to think it only right that he might catch Steve's eye. Still, there was a complicated past between them. At the moment, Tony was just trying to feel out a friendship with the guy again. Any flirtations between the two of them were just an added bonus.
“And you couldn't even make it to your room. Pathetic. This is where I pull a You and insist you get a full eight hours of sleep.”
“Don't downplay it. There was that one time in ‘98 that you did a pretty good impression of being wise. I know you're kind of capable.”
Whatever Tony's romantic situation was at the moment, Jim had to admit that whatever (and whoever) the man was doing, he seemed a lot better than he had before Jim had forced him on a road trip to relax. He was completely comfortable taking the credit there.
“You go ahead, I'll drag my old ass to my room in a bit.” He didn't like to admit it, but when he got bone tired like this, his legs didn't always want to work right, even with the braces. The fall off the couch earlier hadn't helped.
“Too bad the trend didn't stick.” In ‘99, he was back to his same old selfish, foolish tricks. And it had bit him in the ass. Still, he has to appreciate Rhodey's confidence in him.
Tony looked at Rhodey out of the corner of his eye.”You sure? I’ll carry you if I have to, like a sack of potatoes.” The logistics of such an act made it unlikely, but he still made the offer.
“Guess I’ll just have to stick around to be your Obi-Wan until you’re ready to fly off into the world by yourself.” The malaphor didn’t quite make sense, but then again, at its nature it wasn’t suppose to. Also, it was middle of the night, shut up.
Rolling his eyes, he started to shove Tony off the couch. “Go, go sleep. The day I let you carry me around, is the day you put a ring on my finger.” He still had his pride, man. There was no way he would let Tony carry him if he was still mostly capable of walking.
That earned Jim a broad smile from Tony. “Does that make me Luke or Leia in this scenario?” Sometimes it did seem like Rhodey was his only hope, especially without Pepper or Happy here to keep him on track.
Tony managed to slide off the couch and onto his feet with grace, tablet in hand, the smile still stuck on his face. “If you say so.” He started walking towards the stairs leading up to the bedrooms.”I don’t think the ring I have would fit you anyway,” he called out over his shoulder. The engagement ring Happy had been dutifully carrying for years had been in his pocket when the portal picked him up. “You’d better not still be down there in an hour.” He would definitely be checking.
“Leia, definitely Leia,” Jim laughed, rubbing his eyes and trying to shake the sleep from his eyes. It wasn’t working and there was a good chance he would still be there if Tony came to check on him again, but he didn’t think too hard about that now.
The mention of Pepper sobered him a little bit and the smile he had on his face dimmed a bit. He missed her. The two had always been close, been friends outside of their connections to Tony, and had grown even closer back in Blackpoint. Despite the fact that she and Tony seemed to be on the outs again at Tony’s point in the timeline, he wished she was here. Instead of voicing any of that, he raised his hand in a wave and said, “Night, Tony.”