"God, if only I had a component son," Howard mutters under his breath, loud enough for Tony to hear and flinch, tiny needles invading his skin making him ever so more uncomfortable in his own skin.
The stale smell of whisky filled the silence, seeping through the billionaire's senses, utterly draining him of any fight he had left in him. The words stabbing at his small bundle of self—love that has taken years to acquire and cultivate.
"Well, too fucking bad," He grits out and collapses on the couch. Howard downs the rest of the amber liquid and promptly drops his glass on the ground, wobbling while turning as if looking for something then retreats out the front door. A loud slam of the door echoes across the hotel penthouse, but Tony is too deep in his head to hear it.
His mom had suggested they go to the conference to spend some quality time together; they hadn't seen much of each other ever since he appointed Pepper CEO of Stark Industries, It was a fool's errand to think there was a chance for quality time with his deadbeat father.
His impenetrable shield shatters, the tiny pieces hurling to the floor in the wake of an all—out war and his eyes begin to water. Covering his face, he tries to retreat back into his head, as if he can escape his life, his father. Back to when what his father said didn't matter, and wouldn't even matter.
Time passes quickly, rather oddly. His shoulders shake, his eyes burn and the city below is none the wiser. How could he be taken down by his father at 52 years old? How could he have been so stupid to think he was worthy of the Stark legacy.
"Tony I fix your problems, I clean up your messes and I get nothing."
"You are weak just like your mother."
"I don't know what I did to end up with you."
"You go off playing superhero as if you are on par with Captain America and leave the company in the dust!"
"You gave it to a woman for crying out loud!"
p'Pepper could never love someone like you."
"You are truly nothing without my name."
Tony's eyes catch a glance at Howard's well-aged whiskey bottle innocently sitting on the pristine marble counter. His shaky legs try to find solid ground once more, like a baby bird willingly walking to the edge of the nest, right to his doom. Once the superhero's hand clasps around the neck of the luxurious brand of alcohol he is overcome with emotion. Bitting a sob down, he just thinks of Rhodey and he can't help but hate himself. Hate what his life has become, but hates that his father is right. That he is nothing.
The bottle shatters, leaving pieces of glass decorating the floor.
Well, it shattered after it collided with the wall—on its own.
Tony doesn't really remember the anger that surged through his veins like a powerful drug. He wouldn't know that he slammed his hand against the counter until he fell to the floor. He wouldn't know that glass dug into his hand fell to the floor. He wouldn't know that he shrunk himself inwards, pulled his knees to his chest and laid his head there, and cried silently. He wouldn't know that Rhoedy's heart broke at the sight. All he would know was the wave of overwhelming sadness, the blanket of suffocation had descended upon him.
"—ony! Buddy, please look at me. Hey, tell me what—Jesus Christ! Is that blood!?" Rhodey's voice floods his ears like a blanket of warmth swallowing him whole. He unconsciously relaxes and blinks looking at the source of the sound just as a bandage is finished wrapping around his hand.
"Rhodey…" Tony's tone is heartbreaking, so beat down, so raw. That is the very reason why it is so unbearable for Rhodey to see his friend like this. The colonel slowly reaches his hand out towards Tony's face, as if he is an animal he doesn't want to startle. The instant his hand makes contact, Tony melts into it and Rhodey wastes no time in wrapping his best friend in a bear hug.
A minute passes. Then five go right on by. It is at the nine-minute mark that Rhodey softly clears his voice. He can feel how tense his friend is: how much Howard has beaten him down at his lowest.
"Tony. . . please tell me what happened." The shift is slow, it starts with stubborn silence, something he is accustomed to, but when Tony lets out a sob he is on high alert. He pulls away quickly, but as gently as possible. He does his tenth once over checking Tony's neck, his wrists, his torso for any bruises, for any abuse that piece of trash Tony has to call dad might have inflicted upon his own son. He lets out an uneasy breath of relief but steals himself for the story of what exactly transpired for the broken glass around the hotel room.
"He didn't hit me," Tony whispers to alleviate Rhoedey's inherent worry that bubbles every time. "He...He just hit a nerve." The billionaire's gasp is unexpected and he just immediately holds his friend. Just holds him as he slowly explains. "He told me he wished he had a more competent son." In that single sentence Rhodey's heartbreaks, not in the dramatic shattering way, but the sad way an air mattress deflates until it has no more air.
"He's an asshole. I'll kill him before he can say War Machine sucks." Tony lets out a small chuckle against his shoulder, giving off a small vibration that makes his heart inflate a bit. "He is wrong. You know that right?" He tries to make eye contact but Tony's eyes glaze over his, looking beyond him, looking beyond the world.
"Rhodey…" Tony's voice cracks that would've brought Rhodey to his knees if he weren't already on them.
"He is so wrong. You are the most component person on the planet. You make the world a better place every day by living on it. Tones you have no idea how much you mean to me." Rhodey's eyes begin to sweat profusely, but he doesn't let that stop him. "You are a fucking miracle that walked into my dorm room. You touch everyone's life in a special way; you give people hope Tony. Howard is too conceited to see the change you bring without the company's production of weapons. How much you have brought change." His little speech is well taken as the sniffles dwindle and big brown eyes gaze at him. "Tony, you are enough. You have always been enough." His voice utterly breaks at the last line because damn Howard for making Tony feel less than enough. Damn him for making Tony so broken down when he was one of the people supposed to build him up. Damn him forever choosing Captain America over Tony. He rests his chin over his friend's head and breathes deeply. Tony's body shudders until he begins to match Rhodey's breaths. His injured hand taps against Rhoedy's back in a small but gentle way of saying thank you.
Rhodey sighs and traces through his curls calming Tony.
Neither of them expects the window to shatter.
pThe hotel staff is going to be cleaning a lot of broken glass.
"OH MY GOD! I THOUGHT THAT WAS OPEN!" The shrill of a high-pitched voice startles both men apart as a blue and red figure lands gracefully on the counter next to them in an offensive stance right after swinging through the glass. Spider-man turns around ready for a fight but relaxes when he finds none. His eyes then find Mr. Stark on the ground with Colonel Rhodes by his side and he jumps down towards them at the same time tearing his mask off. "Mr. Stark are you okay?!" He questions worriedly as he tries to scan him of any injuries. His eyes bulge at the sight of Tony's bandaged hand and his small innocent face fills with unimaginable rage, so much you can see steam coming out of his ears.
"It's okay kid, I'm fine." Tony sayings, trying to deescalate the situation. "How'd you both get here? I'm in Seattle." Immediately as it leaves his mouth Peter's rage disappears and his face reddens in embarrassment. "Um, well...I might've—well I overheard your conversation with Colonel Rhodes about the trip, so I tried to take action. But Colonel Rhodes caught me hacking into your watch that you are wearing to monitor your vitals. And he joined me and we might've been staying in a hotel 15 minutes from here." He fidgets all throughout his confession and that alone puts a small smile on Tony's face.
"My little spider—baby is a genius." His statement makes Peter blush once again as he denies that he is a baby at all.
"Mr. Stark!" He wines tilting his head. "I am not a baby, I am Spider-Man!" That makes the man chuckle for the second time that evening.
"I'm pretty sure I told you to stay put." Rhodey's playful voice enters their banter and Peter's face breaks into a guilty smile.
"So, that is true, but Mr. Stark could've been in trouble! So when you took the suit, I started swinging there, but I ran out of webbing—"
"You what!?" Tony sharply cuts off his kid as his heart contracts and begins to pat his kid down to check for any secret injured against the protests of the teen.
"It's okay, I wasn't hurt, you can stop checking. I just landed on someone's trampoline and I went super high! It was so cool, I wanna try it again but anyway I then had to run the rest of the way." Tony doesn't know if it is because of the sudden changes in emotions for the whole evening or the fact that his kid is too precious but he just starts laughing harder than he ever has before. Until all three of them are laughing hysterically on the floor, Finally they catch their breath and stare at each other.
Tony is the first to break the silence: "Let's ditch this place and go watch trampoline fails and eat way too much popcorn." His smirk is ever so present and that lights up the kid's smile.
"Yeah! I could use another snack." Peter remarks smiling ever so brightly.
"Pete, I literally just fed you an hour ago." Rhodey huffs, shaking his head at this craziness.
"He's a growing boy, platypus."
"Shut up, that's it I'm leaving without you."
"You wouldn't dare."
"Try me." Tony throws his head back and laughs fondly.
"You wound me, honey bear."/p
"Mr. Stark? Is this just me or how do we get back? I know Colonel Rhodes could carry you then maybe I could surf his back or I could carry you back if the armor can't take the wight—"
"Kid, we can just take an Uber. It's no big deal, no carrying me anywhere required." Tony responds shaking his head at his imagination.
"Right. But like what if I want to surf on Colonel Rhodes's back?" Peter swiftly takes out his puppy eyes and Tony choking on his spit just waves him towards Rhodey.
"Absolutely not. The suit is not a toy, Pete. It should be used responsibly." Peter deflates but nods anyway.
"It was worth a shot. But Colonel what about the time Tony used his suit to launch jelly beans off the Tower?" Peter asks very innocently and Tony gives him the stink eye.
"Not cool bud. Ratting me out especially when you seemed to love that particular contraption." Tony says coyly.
"You people." Rhodey facepalms as the two descend into the details of the said contraption. He is happy though, that tonight Tony can laugh and forget for the slightest bit how much of a douchebag his father is. He is so proud of what Tony has overcome; he is definitely not the little scrawny kid that stumped into his dorm room.
Because of his musings, he catches the end of a very interesting story: "If you hadn't insulted her then she wouldn't have blasted you with the jelly beans!" Peter exclaims like it is the most natural thing in the world. Of course, being the constant professional person Tony is, he rolls his eyes and shakes his head.
Sometime later they manage to acquire an Uber who is very surprised to bus Ironman, War Machine, and Spider-man to the Hilton Inn but is nonetheless happy about it.
Once inside their presidential suite—Tony calls down to get them upgraded—they pile onto the couch with the softest blankets. Rhodey and Peter make a Tony Stark blanket burrito ensuring he is nice and warm. They then grab the remote and the laughter comes as they watch people fall through trampolines and out of them.
It isn't until much later that they are all fast asleep with their bellies full of microwave popcorn—the only kind Peter actually likes. Peter has his arms around Tony like he is a big teddy bear and Tony's head is buried in the crook of Rhodey's neck. There's a moment when Tony's eyes flicker open but he knows he is safe and he feels very much like he is enough. It might buffer from time to time but he knows that the goofballs next to him will always be there. Because he has the most protective spiderling and colonel at his side. And he couldn't be happier at that moment.