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Word Count: 536

Birthday Plans

Tony strolled across the college campus, his hands in his pockets, and a smile on his face. It was his seventeenth birthday, and Rhodey had promised him that they'd do something fun.

Of course, their idea of fun could be vastly different, but Tony generally had a good time whenever he was with Rhodey anyway, so he wasn't worried about it.

He walked into the library and up the stairs, ignoring the woman on the desk who was watching him with beady eyes. For some reason, the librarian had taken a rather vicious dislike to him—Tony had no idea why.

"Hey, Honeybear," he greeted, dropping into a seat at Rhodey's usual table. "How goes the studying?"

"Badly," Rhodey groaned, looking down at the book he'd been reading. "Why are you wearing a pink shirt?"

"It's not pink, it's coral, don't be such an uncultured heathen! Besides, I could pull any colour off!"

"Uh huh," Rhodey replied, looking decidedly unimpressed. "Think you can sit there and be quite while I finish this?"

Tony rolled his eyes. He wasn't so uncontrolled that he couldn't manage to wait a little while. He looked around the top floor of the library for a moment and debated on finding something to read, but decided against it.

Instead, he pulled out his phone and scrolled through twitter for a while, laughing quietly at the antics of some of his friends from back home, who'd been wishing him happy birthday with increasingly terrible pictures.

The one of Steve, from back when he'd been tiny and sickly, was particularly amusing, not least because it had been Bucky who'd posted it and Steve had not been impressed with him if the message thread beneath the picture was anything to go by.

He missed them, but when he'd received the offer for early acceptance for college, he'd felt like he'd forever regret it if he didn't take it.

And it wasn't all bad. He had Rhodey here, didn't he? And Natasha and Clint, though Nat scared the life out of him all the time.

Tony tapped his foot against the floor. "Are you ready yet?"

"Not yet," Rhodey replied with a fond chuckle.

"But I'm bored! I've been waiting ages!"

"It's been literally five minutes, you nuisance," Rhodey retorted, shaking his head. He looked at Tony for a long moment and then sighed, closing his book. "I'm going to regret this tomorrow."

Tony cheered quietly, mindful of where they were, and helped Rhodey pack his things up.

"So, what are we doing?"

"We're going home," Rhodey replied. "And we're going to stop at the shop on the way and get lots and lots of terrible snacks, we're going to phone for a takeaway—your choice—and then we're going to watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Sound good to you?"

"Just me and you?" Tony asked. "Scandalous, Honeybear! Keeping me all to yourself."

Rhodey just looked at him, and Tony smiled and leaned into his best friend. "Sounds perfect, Platypus. Lead on."

Rhodey wrapped his arm around Tony's shoulder. "And tomorrow, you're helping me study."

Tony complained the whole way home.

The day after, he prepared flash cards for Rhodey's course and tested him for three hours.

Written for:

The Fabulous World Of Comics: 12. Reading

Showtime: 3. (plot point) Turning Seventeen

Film Festival: 14. Word: Home

Mini Golf Mania: Hole 7: Colour: Coral

Murder Mystery: How: One of Hagrid's giant pumpkins: (dialogue) "But I'm bored!"

Game Of Life: Relationship: College!AU

Geek Pride: Discworld: Library

Say It With Flowers: Calla Lily: Scandalous