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Moonlight filtered through a crack in the deep blue curtains and Rhodey blinked sleepily. The light illuminated Tony's face that was trying to hide away in the crook of Rhodey's neck as Tony slept soundly, looking more relaxed and free than Rhodey had seen him all week.
Slowly, Rhodey began to thread his fingers through Tony's silky hair as he thought back to the first time he'd laid his eyes upon the youngest Stark. Skinny, short and an ocean full of sass, Rhodey had immediately been taken with the young man who ran calculations in his head faster than a cheetah could run and had a witty reply to every sentence someone said. When Rhodey had first been informed he would be sharing a room with a student far too young to even be in college, he'd been apprehensive, hoping to God that the kid and him would at least get along. He'd introduced himself as James Rhodes. Tony changed it to Rhodey.
And then they hit it off. So much, that somewhere along the line, they begun dating.
MIT was not completely made up of Rhodey and Tony getting drunk and being violently ill the next morning (not to say that that hadn't happened often...) as both boys actually wanted to graduate MIT. Many late nights were actually filled with coffee and energy drinks and the words 'Crap! We had an assignment for that class?' followed by a mad scrambling for paper.
Then, once projects were turned in, and the boys were too exhausted to go drinking or cause a nuisance, they would collapse onto their ratty couch, stained by motor oil and pen ink, to snuggle under Rhodey's fluffy blue blanket which resulted in them falling asleep together in one another's comforting presence.
After MIT, Rhodey began his training for the military and Tony began his training for becoming CEO of Stark Industries. Stress had doubled for the couple, especially since they couldn't actually tell anyone that they were a couple. They bought a house together, a simple two up two down, as a place they could retreat to when Rhodey was on leave and Tony took a personal day to be with him. It was a simple little house in the suburbs; exactly where the paparazzi wouldn't look for him.
Then, as the years went by, their relationship went from strength to strength, and Tony built a house in Malibu plus a Tower in New York, their little house in the suburbs was still their home. Draped over the couch was a fluffy blue blanket and, along the windowsills and shelves were little trinkets they had accumulated over the years. Photographs hung from the walls and little plants hid in nooks and crannies as Tony insisted that they get them and of course Rhodey had been a push over and allowed him. That's how Rhodey knew that was their home. Comforting, cozy and personal.
After Afghanistan, the couple had made sure to set aside more time to spend with each other in their little home. It did wonders for their relationship, neither wanting the agonising fear and heartbreak of the possibility of loosing each other again without saying goodbye.
On the 11th of November 2011, they finally tied the knot. When New York legalised gay marriage in July 2011, the couple had considered just running off to get married, before deciding that Mama Rhodes and Aunt Peggy would kill them if they did. Rhodey secretly thought that Tony just wanted to be able to write 11/11/11 as his wedding date. The wedding itself had been beautiful. They married in a small church with the Rhodes family and Tony's friends mingled together in the pews. Both had held back tears of joy as they said their vows and gave each other a tender but passionate kiss on the lips to seal their marriage. Lila Rhodes and Sharon Carter were the flower girls and didn't hold back on the confetti after the ceremony to Tony's amusement as Rhodey had ended up with a basket of confetti on his head which made for hilarious photos.
That night, as they fell asleep in each others arms, Tony and Rhodey knew they couldn't have had a better wedding.
Shaking himself out of his memories, Rhodey turned his head ever so slightly to bury his nose in Tony's newly washed hair, breathing in the sweet scent of strawberry shampoo and the unmoving smell charred metal. His sensitive neck tingled as Tony's breath fluttered against his skin and softly, Tony whined in his sleep before curling up tighter into his husband.
And Rhodey knew, that there was nowhere in the universe that he'd rather be.