Tony was ashamed to admit he was terrified. He had never been quite as scared as he was at the moment, well if he had been he could not recall it. His palms felt sweaty, his mouth dry and his jaw aching from being clenched for too long.
"What if she doesn't like me?" Tony asked bouncing on the balls of his feet, he was beginning to annoy Jim with the way he was so jittery.
"Dude. It's only my mom."
"No one has ever taken me back to meet their parents before, okay. You're my first friend." Tony admitted. Jim looked at him in some surprise at the statement; surely he could not be the Anthony Edward Stark's first friend.
"Don't tell my mom that or she'll kidnap you. You're breaking my heart Tony; I'm half tempted to keep you. No telling what my mom will do if she hears you say that."
"You'd keep me? Oh, James." Tony said coyly fluttering his eyelashes. Jim laughed and pushed Tony's head away so he would stop it. Tony merely tugged on Jim's arm.
"Keep me, Rhodey. Keep me." Tony said with his attempt of puppy dog eyes, it was a poor exaggerated attempt and it should not work as well as it did. Jim was very tempted to agree. Then his mother opened the door to them.
Tony, for all his bravado and confidence, all but cowered behind Jim. That's when Jim realised that the other was not joking about dreading his mother not liking him.
"Get inside before you boys catch a cold. Where are your coats? You shouldn't be standing out here without any coats on." Jim had to practically drag Tony in with the way he stood and gawped at his mother.
Tony made out as if he had never someone like her before despite Jim knowing otherwise.
It took a while for Tony to snap out of his stupor. Then he straight up bowed. Jim was a mix of mortified and amused, mostly mortified.
"Mrs Rhodes, I can tell where your son gets his good looks from." Tony was talking with that slightly higher than usual voice and too quickly, so he was still nervous then. Not too nervous to procure flowers out of nowhere, uncrumpled flowers at that. Jim would have liked to know that Tony was an actual bonafide magician before now.
"Flowers, I made sure you're not allergic." Jim could swear Tony was gradually getting higher pitched. His mother took the flowers seeming both amused and a little overwhelmed. "You look amazing, slippers really suit you makes your ankles look slim."
"Please like me." It was practically a squeak at the end. Jim was honestly afraid Tony was going to faint or something when he properly looked at him. He was pale and his eyes were too wide. He was freaking out big time and Jim just could not figure out why.
This was just his mom; Tony could go toe to toe with his professors, businessmen and Captain actual freaking America just fine. He could charm the socks off of his peers, service people and people at galas with ease. This was just his mom; she was nowhere near as intimidating as the women in Tony's life were. Tony's perfectly made up mother and his stunning yet utterly terrifying (in somehow the best way) godmother.
They coaxed Tony down into a chair, wrapped a blanket around him and put hot chocolate in his hands. He seemed to be mostly embarrassed now as opposed to freaking out. He looked young, Jim tended to forget sometimes that Tony was younger than him and so was young.
"Imma sorry. It's just... important you see." Tony made vague mumbling words. Jim's mother left them and Tony relaxed a little.
"Yeah, did not understand a word of that." Jim was panicking a little but he kept his tone light and joking. Tony looked as if he was going to cry, Tony never cried. He had not even cried that time when they singed off their eyebrows, or when they had made that home-made glider and Tony broke his arm. Thinking about it, with all the stupid things they did together, Tony really should have met his mother sooner.
"Shut up. Don't make me talk about feelings." Tony grumbled and spat out the word 'feelings' as if it was dirty. Looking almost defeated he added. "I tried to play it off, but I really want your mother to like me, you're important to me you know. My best friend, my only friend outside of Jarvis and Steve but they don't really count as they are my father's friends really. I just don't know what I'd do if your mother did not like me." Tony really knew how to play on the heartstrings, didn't he?
That was when Roberta Rhodes decided she was going to all but adopt the small teenager huddled in blankets that was sat upon her sofa. She could see the same urge in her son's eyes to keep this boy. He must have got it from her.
With a good square meal in the boy, he was much too skinny for a boy his age, and getting him gradually used to her Roberta felt a bit like she was interacting with a skittish kitten.
When Tony had given her a hug for the first time, one that he instigated at that, she felt as if she had achieved something special. Every time he relaxed enough to send her one of those small smiles, she knew she had achieved something.
When Tony had stayed over and she had found her boys curled up around each other, she held back her 'aww' in order to snap a couple of photographs. She fully supported the way her Jim had claimed this boy as his friend.
When Tony had first called her 'Mama Rhodes' she knew she had made his list of important people and felt honoured. The way he had flushed red, despite having previously bragged about not actually being able to blush, when she had kissed his forehead alongside Jim's as she wished them goodnight.
When Tony had gleefully informed her of DUM-E and explained so carefully about what he was doing, in such detail that she felt that she could have drawn him. The way he trusted her with that.
When she was told that Jim was missing alongside Tony she had never felt such a deep fear run through her. It was not just her son who was missing, taken, it was both of her boys. She felt as if she had as much claim to Tony as Howard, Maria or Edwin Jarvis.
She also felt angry. If they had Captain America why didn't they send him in the same hired car as the ones her boys had got in? Of course, she knew who this Steve was; she, like so many others, had grown up with his face. Whether it was in fitness tests or propaganda she had seen his face before. If the Starks were so rich didn't they have their own drivers to pick up her boys?
Maybe her anger was aimed at the wrong people but she had the right to be angry. If she wasn't angry then all she would do was break down and cry. At least with anger, she could divert it somewhere to just help in some way. With sorrow, she could do nothing.
Just look at Howard Stark, he was too busy pulling out his own hair to be useful, guilt and fear had gotten to him. She would just have to side-step him and talk to Tony's godmother and butler; they would help him save her boys.
Stane wanted the kid a little more malleable and little more grateful to him, he would also prefer if he was not an eyesore whilst he was at it. Money talked. Then Stane would stage a rescue attempt and all would be well.
It was a simple enough plan that had worked before. This was not part of the plan, nothing in the books said anything about super soldiers and a shiny star coming towards their faces. If they knew who they were supposed to be going against then they would have never agreed to the job, a rescue squad they could handle. They knew this man's reputation however and the organisation he represented, it was a bite too big for them to chew.
They had signed up to get rich, not to die.