Rhodey is the only person Tony lets in to see him at his very worst, very lowest, as well as at his best.
Tony has known Rhodey since he was a teenager, going to MIT. Rhodey was the first friend he’d ever really had that wasn’t on the Stark payroll, that wasn’t friends with him out of obligation or greed.
Rhodey was there for him after his parent’s deaths, after Edwin Jarvis’s death.
He was there when Tony took control of SI a few months later.
Rhodey found him after months and months of hopeless searching. Rhodey is the one that continued to search when everyone else told him to give up, that Stark was dead. Rhodey’s the one that brought him home.
Rhodey doesn’t care if Tony calls him sourpatch or honeybear. He doesn’t care that he programmed himself as “The Starkster” in his phone with that annoying ringtone. He laughs at his dumb jokes, even at a Senate committee hearing.
Rhodey’s there for him after Obie’s betrayal. There for him when his drinking got out of control. There for him when he thought he was dying.
Rhodey’s always there for Tony, always has his back.
Congratulations, B.o.B., a dude more than 2,000 years ago figured out what you still can’t understand despite the benefits of free public school, generations of documentation and the internet at your fucking fingertips.
To be honest, I’m mostly reblogging this for the Carl Sagan explanation.
Ancient Egypt was insane with their astronomy and giant buildings. The damned pyramids line up with constellations and specific stars
Tony
becomes a dad at 18 after a one-night stand. It’s his wakeup call,
and he decides to raise the baby himself when the mother says she
doesn’t want to do it. It’s the last straw for Howard after first
finding out that Tony’s bi, and then Tony telling him he’s not going
to work for SI, that he wants to stay in college for a little while
longer to finish his PhD. So, Howard—still reeling after the
accident he caused which killed Maria—disowns Tony, and kicks him out.
But
Tony isn’t stupid, he always knew something like this was possible,
so he has some savings. Not much, but just enough. And, really, it’s
not like MIT is going to kick him out as well, he’s Tony Stark, their
star pupil. And Tony isn’t about to let Howard win whatever
twisted game they’re playing, he just won’t. He stays with Rhodey
until he finds several part-time jobs, and a small apartment for him
and his son. It’s difficult, and frustrating, even with Rhodey and
Pepper and his lovely, elderly landlady helping out as much as they
can, but Tony powers through it. He can do this.
Enter Steve, a couple of months later. Tony has the shittiest day ever at
work; a customer yells at him for a full fifteen minutes for
supposedly screwing up her order—which Tony didn’t, excuse you—he
drops a tray full of trash all over himself while cleaning the
tables, and then he burns himself while cleaning the coffee machine.
Which is when Steve walks into the café, and Tony realises that, on
top of all the other crap, he’s forgotten to close up, and will now
have to explain to a potential customer that he can’t serve him,
because everything’s been shut down already.
But the customer turns out to be really nice about it, and even fixes up
Tony’s burnt hand. They talk, flirt a little, and it’s basically a
crush at first sight for both of them. But, obviously, Tony doesn’t
think he has a chance with the gorgeous, clearly wealthy, older man,
and is super surprised when Steve asks him out, but agrees
enthusiastically. But then Steve stuffs a hundred dollar bill in the
tip jar—he means to be nice, he’s just clumsy about it—making
Tony think he’s looking for a hook-up/casual thing/means to pay Tony
for his, uh, services. Tony is disappointed, but he likes
Steve, and answers when Steve calls a couple of days later.
Tony and Steve start a sort of relationship, and it’s good, it really is, even
though Tony is starting to fall in love with the man he’s pretty sure
has become his sugar daddy. Because Steve—in a desperate attempt to
keep the beautiful, clever, witty, younger man interested in
him—spoils Tony rotten; he takes him out to fancy restaurants,
dresses him in expensive clothes, and buys him a shitload of stuff.
Tony feels crappy about it all because he really likes Steve, but he
doesn’t dare say anything either, afraid Steve will leave if he
realises Tony’s getting attached. Or, you know, finds out Tony has a
kid, whom Tony’s been hiding as not to put Steve off.
Meanwhile, Steve is pining, thinking Tony’s the one who doesn’t want to tie
himself to some old, boring architect. Bucky can’t stand Tony,
thinking Tony’s taking advantage of Steve, and the fact that Steve’s
head over heels in love with him. Steve has a really bad couple of
days—it’s the anniversary of the accident that killed Peggy and
their unborn baby girl—and meets up with Sharon, Peggy’s sister,
like every year so they can support, and help each other through the
worst of it. He also completely forgets about having had plans with
Tony.
Tony, who’s arriving at Steve’s apartment—he was worried about Steve,
okay, Steve is never late, he’s not checking up on him or anything,
jeez—just a moment after Sharon and Steve, and sees them hug, and
kiss—it’s a friendly peck, they’re like siblings, and they’re
fucking sad and need the comfort—and just kind of stares in shock.
Once he unfreezes, Tony tries to leave quietly, but Steve spots him,
and waves him over. He introduces Tony as a friend, which Tony takes
as confirmation that Steve isn’t serious about him at all. Once
Sharon leaves, Tony tells Steve he can’t do this anymore, and goes.
Steve has a mini breakdown, and calls Bucky, crying and sniffling and
generally being absolutely miserable. And Bucky freaks the fuck out,
because he knew Tony was just screwing Steve over, that
fucking gold digging asshole! Bucky, furious, calls up his friend
Nat—without telling Sam, his boyfriend, what he’s up to, because Sam is usually
reasonable, and Bucky can’t use that right now—and asks her to help him
find out where Tony lives. Nat agrees after Bucky tells her what’s
happened, and they go to confront Tony together.
Tony has been moping around for the last couple of days, feeling like
shit, and to top it all off, the letter he’s sent to Howard, his
olive branch, has been returned unanswered. Which is when Bucky,
Steve’s friend who could never stand Tony anyway, and some scary
redhead suddenly turn up on his doorstep, and storm into his
apartment, looking absolutely livid. Bucky starts yelling at Tony,
throwing accusations around, asking him how he could’ve done that to
Steve, and it’s just too much for Tony; he starts crying. Under
tears, Tony apologises, and says he never meant to fall in love with
Steve, that he’s sorry, and please, Bucky’s free to take all the
stuff Steve’s given him back, Tony never asked for any of it anyway.
Tony swears he never took any actual money from Steve, and
apologises, again, for selling some of the gifts Steve’s given him to
pay for bills and groceries, and promises he’ll pay everything back.
Nat’s just kind of standing in the background, slowly realising that, yeah,
some sort of miscommunication has happened here. Which is when they
all hear the baby starting to cry from the other room. Tony excuses
himself, and Bucky and Nat share this ‘shit, I think we’ve fucked up’
look when Tony comes back with a small boy in his arms. He introduces
his son, apologises yet again because he has to change him, otherwise
he’ll never quiet down.
Once the baby’s taken care of, Nat tells Tony to pack a baby bag, and come
with them. And Tony’s exhausted, and done, so he doesn’t protest,
just goes with them. Everything’s fucked up already, it can’t really
get worse anyway. Nat drives everyone to Steve’s apartment, plants
Tony and the baby on the couch, and does the thing they should’ve
done from the beginning; she calls Sam.
Sam arrives a little while later with Steve—they’d been at the gym,
trying to get Steve’s mind off Tony—to find a sheepish Bucky and
Nat sitting in the kitchen with a baby, and Tony passed out on the
couch. Steve gets pissed because wtf, Bucky, there was no need to
bring Tony here, what the hell? But Bucky insists Steve talk to Tony,
so Steve does, albeit reluctantly.
Tony wakes up to Steve gently touching his cheek, and just starts crying
all over again. He apologises—really, it’s his thing here—and
tries to explain the situation, confused when Steve starts crying as
well. They finally figure out that everything’s been a huge
misunderstanding, and that they’re both idiots who are very much in
love with each other.
Sam plops the baby down in Steve’s lap, congratulates them on figuring
their shit out, and shoos Nat and Bucky out of the apartment. Steve
immediately falls in love with the baby—the huge softie—they all
have dinner together, and then curl up in Steve’s bed together,
finally happy.
Tony Stark and Steve Rogers couldn’t be any more different;
Billionaire Inventor Tony Stark enters the Avengers Academy in the middle of the year, and his reputation as a rich boy precedes him. Rumor has it that his special admission is due to his father donating an entire tower.
Council President Steve Rogers came from a military family, ans isn’t too happy about the new transfer student creating a ruckus in his school. He’s got his mark on Tony from the very first time they meet.
A love for stars brings starts bringing them together.
