Hey Rhodey :-)

Hey Pepper :-)

When are you going to come see us again? It's been weeks. You know how Tony gets.

Yeah, that's the funny thing. I know it's been a while, but he's only been mildly annoying instead of increasingly demanding and whiny. What gives?

Oh, I might know something about that.

You gonna share with the class?

He's been busy being a role model.

We talking about the same Tony?

Is this about that intern he mentioned?

Yes and no. He's the reason Tony's been distracted, but I wouldn't say he's just an intern.

?

The next thing Pepper sent was a picture of Tony and a dark-haired teenager-of-indeterminate age. They were side by side on the couch in the penthouse, and both of them appeared to be fast asleep. The lights were low, and their faces were lit by the glow of the TV.. The craziest part was that Tony's head was lower in the stack than the kid's, which meant he'd fallen asleep first. Rhodey could count on one hand the number of people he'd seen Tony comfortable enough with that he'd fall asleep in their presence. Sure, he'd been known to get close and comfy with any number of the Avengers during movies back when they were all a team, but he'd never fallen asleep around any of them that Rhodey knew of.

Am I seeing things? Was this at the end of a 3-day science bender or something?

Nope. Just a normal Friday night. He definitely slept the night before.

He trusts the kid that much?

It seems that way.

Guess it's about time that I came to meet my new nephew then. :-p

You laugh, but they're so alike sometimes it's uncanny. Come on down. Friday?

Yeah, I can do that. Can we do Mexican? I've been craving some real tacos.

Of course.

That Friday evening when Rhodey showed up, Pepper hugged him and said, "Dinner should be here in fifteen. You want the honor of trying to pry them out of the lab?"

"Yeah, I see how it is. You save all the hard jobs for me."

She grinned and made a shooing motion with her hand.

He went down to the lab, but didn't announce his arrival, and asked FRIDAY not to. He stood quietly outside the window and watched Tony and his "intern" on the far end of the room. They had their heads bent together over some task, quietly bouncing ideas back and forth like some would play catch with a baseball.

Rhodey studied them, noticing how comfortable they were with each other in that space, shoulders almost touching as they both reached in and manipulated the design on the holo-table. Though Tony often shook his head and put something back after the kid had moved it, prompting eye rolling or scoffing from Tony, Jr. Because that's what the kid looked like. Sure, his face didn't match, but the look in his eyes, his expressions, his body language, even some of his mannerisms definitely evoked a young Tony. This kid looked about the same age Tony had been when he introduced himself as Rhodey's roommate at MIT.

Rhodey's phone dinged quietly in his pocket, and across the room, the kid's head popped up. Had he heard that? Tony looked up at the kid and then followed his gaze over to Rhodey. Since they knew he was here now, Rhodey approached the door, and FRIDAY opened it.

"Honeybear! Pep said you might make it down tonight!"

Tony crossed the room and gave him a quick hug. The kid was still back where Tony had left him, watching their greeting with an eager, but maybe nervous expression.

Tony turned to him and beckoned him over. "Pete."

The teen moved to join them, almost visibly trying not to bounce. He reminded Rhodey of a half-grown puppy who was really trying to behave, but may lose it at any moment.

"Rhodey, this is Peter Parker, my…uh, intern. And Pete, this is Colonel James Rhodes, or -"

"War Machine," the kid breathed reverently.

"Uh, it's Iron Patriot, actually," Rhodey said awkwardly.

The kid screwed up his face. "But War Machine is so much better!" he said, before his hand flew up to cover his mouth. "Uh, sorry."

"That's my boy," said Tony with a smirk. Peter's eyes cut to him, an embarrassed but maybe gratified look on his face. What was with all the complicated emotions in this place? And where had he heard that voice before? It was familiar. But surely he's never met the boy…

"And I was going to say he just goes by 'Rhodey' around here.

"Eh, you're right, though. 'War Machine' was definitely better," Rhodey admitted, prompting a triumphant laugh from Tony and a shy grin from the kid.

"Pepper said the food is almost here, and asked me to come drag you guys away from whatever you're working on."

"That's okay, it was going nowhere anyway," snarked the kid, with a sideways glance at Tony.

"You're so full of crap, Parker. That design is shaping up very nicely, no thanks to you."

The kid rolled his eyes again. "I still think you're gonna find you're wrong when you actually start production," he muttered loudly, turning to gather up his backpack and jacket.

Tony considered for a minute, his eyes focused on the holo table across the room. "Yeeaah, you might be right," he said ruefully. "We'll look at it again tomorrow morning. FRIDAY, save it and close it, keeping notes on the changes the kid wanted to make too, so we can go over them."

Peter smiled triumphantly, Rhodey mentally shook himself. Tony deferring to someone else's ideas on some tech? How smart was this kid?

The man in question had a proud smirk on his face, and roughly tousled the kid's hair as Peter laughed and ducked away. Rhodey could feel the bemused smile on his face. This was all a little surreal.

Dinner was fantastic. Rhodey hadn't had a good, authentic taco, with carne asada, and cilantro and onions and radishes and everything delicious, in far too long. He ate nearly four of them. But the kid ate at least eight. Probably more. Rhodey knew teenagers had big appetites, but this kid wasn't big in any way. He just kind of inhaled them.

Actually, he only ate four to start, but then Rhodey noticed Tony kept replacing the empty spots on his plate with more tacos, and Pepper and Tony acted like it was normal as the teenager continued to eat. Huh. Must be a growth spurt? Kids had those, right? Rhodey had some nieces and nephews, but they were all several years younger than Peter.

After they finished, Rhodey helped Tony and Peter take containers and trash into the kitchen, striking up a conversation as they walked.

"So, Peter, what grade are you in? Where do you go to school?"

"I'm a sophomore at Midtown Tech, sir."

"Sir? Obviously he hasn't been spending too much time with you, Tones, if he's still so polite."

"I've been trying to break him of that one, actually, so don't go complimenting him, or he'll probably regress," growled Tony.

Rhodey smirked at Tony, who was pulling out a pan of brownies and some ice cream, then turned his attention back to Peter. "That's a pretty tough course load, right? I feel like I've read about that school recently. Didn't you guys win the AcaDec championships last year? And Spiderman had to rescue you from the Washington Monument?"

Peter looked nervous for some reason. "Uh, yeah. I guess that is the school's most recent claim to fame," he smiled weakly, before turning to rinse off a few utensils in the sink.

"You like it there?" Rhodey noticed the trash was full, and thought he might as well switch it so it could be taken out.

"Yeah, it's pretty good most of the time. I have my best friend there, Ned. The teachers are pretty good."

"Don't forget MJ, Tony said, and Rhodey turned to see him sporting that specific smile he'd learned meant Tony was trying to cause trouble.

The back of the boy's neck looked a little flushed, and Rhodey could see his eyes rolling just from his body language. "Mr. Stark!" he said sternly.

Peter reached down to the side to grab a hand towel, and Tony chose that moment to poke him in the side with a spoon. The boy yelped, and almost before Rhodey could register what had triggered it, he moved so quickly he was little more than a blur. And that blur ended upside down, stuck to the wall above the sink.

Rhodey heard a crash at his side, and some part of his consciousness recognized it was the trash bag he'd been holding. The kid's head turned slowly, and the big brown eyes staring back at him (upside down) were just as wide and surprised as his were, he was sure.

Then all the wheels in his head finally started moving again, and he turned his head slowly to look at Tony, who looked both amused and nervous, the offending spoon still half-outstretched in one hand, and other one holding the back of his head.

"Anthony Edward Stark, you did not take a 15-year-old to a fight with the Avengers in Germany!"

"Um, I was fourteen then," said the Spider-kid hesitantly, dropping gracefully from the wall back into a normal-human position.

Later, after a lot of incredulity and anger from Rhodey, a surprising amount of admitted guilt from Tony, and a little too much defending his mentor from the kid, Tony asked Peter an interesting question.

"Underoos, what happened to your Spidey sense? You should have seen that spoon coming; I shouldn't have been able to scare you like that!"

Peter, who was sitting cross-legged on the couch across from them while he ate an entire bag of potato chips, considered for a moment.

"I'm pretty sure my Spidey sense stopped working for you weeks ago. I doesn't tell me when you're coming anymore, or let me know when you're going to touch me."

He dug back into the chips for a moment while Tony seemed to digest that. His best friend's face was contemplative, the knowledge obviously affecting him.

Then Peter added, "It doesn't work for May or Ned either."

Rhodey guessed that implied a level of trust and familiarity, like his extra sense didn't see Tony as a possible threat.

Pepper broke in and moved the conversation along, asking Peter about his upcoming Academic Decathlon competition, and his face lit up with enthusiasm as he talked about where they were going to stay, and which subjects he was in charge of mastering for the competition (Chemistry and Physics). Watching him ramble on about something he was excited about, Rhodey was reminded again of his too-young college roommate.

The kid really was very like Tony, but also… not. There was still a youthful innocence about him that Tony had mostly lost already at this age, with all the politics he'd already been dragged through, and with the rough relationship he had with his father. Maybe even from the lack of any kind of normal high school social experience. Peter still had some stars in his eyes. He was maybe what Tony could have been, with more love and support.

Tony had lost so many people lately, and had already been betrayed by too many people that he loved and trusted. Rhodey was so thankful it hadn't broken his friend permanently. Rhodey was hoping what he was building with this kid, with this teenage superhero, (still fitting his head around that one) would be strong enough to hold through whatever life could (and would) throw at them.