Chapter Text
I don’t know what is wrong.
When Tony came home, Pepper was prepared for the yelling, the crying, the utter flurry of destruction she had been privy to after every disaster. She was ready for everything to come crashing down when she watched the footage of Siberia. Tony was a phoenix and from the ashes, he would be reborn before her eyes. This time though, it never came.
The man that emerged instead held himself as if the American Paragon hadn’t almost murdered him. After being in Dr. Lieber’s care for 2 weeks of willing isolation, Tony silently surfaced looking as though he had been at the spa all this time. To an untrained eye, he seemed a perfect vision of health and charm, but to her something was off . The hairs on her neck stood up when in the midst of his new glamour, less then a second, he wore that look .
Now, it was never pointed at her, but instinctual terror crept up her spine. She felt like his teeth were sharper, too white and threatening even… his eyes clouded with momentary dangerous intent. She followed his hands, as though they could just snap out breaking her before she could register the movement. And she wasn’t alone if the Rhodey’s apprehensive look towards their billionaire's back when he wasn’t looking was anything to go on.
Tony promised he would explain everything tonight, with Vision and Rhodey who had been released home this week in that damn wheelchair. Poor Vision hadn’t wanted to come out, and Tony forbade her from trying to convince him further. Since coming home, Tony had spent time with the young android. ‘At least Rhodey came… but maybe it would have been better if he had stayed with Vision’. Tony didn’t outwardly acknowledge it but his illusion slipped just a bit when his ears picked up the squeaky wheel lock throughout the night. ‘As if it had been his fault’, seeing his soften sad gaze going back to the gunmetal hand rims all evening reminded her of her Tony. The man who worried himself mad every time the Colonel went on overseas deployment. He wasn’t hers anymore, not in that sense, but she would always love him as one of her best friends.
Pepper was so preoccupied with her thoughts, she hadn’t noticed Tony sliding next to her,“Hey Pep, who do I need to speak to next?”. She took a second to compose herself before mechanically responding “The UN Representative of Japan, Mr. Bessho, and his country’s Minister of Defense, Mr. Onodera; had inquiries in installation and data collection to the energy shield we have in developments since they would be an ideal candidate due to their territory size, don’t forget we are also attempting to smooth over tensions with Germany so try to have them join the conversation as well if you can ” with a brief nod, he made his way to Japan’s representatives.
Pepper needed to concentrate on being Virginia Potts: CEO for SI, and not on Pepper worrying about recent uneasy feelings from her friend this past month. So she made her own rounds to the numerous UN Representatives, Prime Ministers, and the occasional Head General. This she was confident in. Tony wasn’t half dead, he wasn’t shattered or self-destructive. Shouldn't she be happy he is ok?
Right?
I knew what I signed up for, I don’t need your pity.
It took remembering
every. single. asshole.
who had treated him like he didn’t deserve the position he had earned. Every racist, bigoted, rotten person who couldn’t see past the color of his skin or his long-enduring friendship to a certain genius, fueled him with restraint from snarling at all who took one glance at his wheelchair, with faces morphing quickly into pity.
It was driving him nuts, all the effort put into just looking at his face and not his transportation, and Tony’s downcasted glances was not helping. He just wanted to smack his best friend, he knew as well as James did. Rhodes had been in the military long enough to know men like him didn’t leave until forced to, and that hadn’t happened yet! Not that he wasn’t expecting being informed of his Honorable Discharge any day now if he was being honest. ‘That or they’ll place me in a supervisory role in hope to obtain a new pilot for War Machine… like Tony would allow anyone else access, god damn, what a mess’.
Along with mulling over his future job security, he had to deal with his injuries. Between the major surgery, his trauma and physical therapy he hadn’t been able to really come home. But now that he was, Rhodey wouldn’t let himself dwell on how simple things seemed so much harder, even stairs were absolutely panic-inducing. ‘No no not now’, he wasn't thinking about it tonight, not on his first night back.
Seeing Pepper earlier had been a shock, God what had he missed. She was a flicker to the former fire that blazed beside Tony usually. When their eyes met, it was clear how worried she was. She was worrying herself to death over something and fear kept making its way on her thin frame. He couldn’t reach out to her yet but made a silent promise he’d be there for both his dear friends.
Even with Tones offer of rescheduling the UN meeting or even letting him skip with Viz, he knew that it was his and Pep’s responsibility to make sure everything worked smoothly, while physically showing support of Tony. As soon as everyone was gone, the remaining Avengers plus Pepper would have a talk about the next steps they needed to take. ‘As a real team’.
With the media labeled ‘Civil War’, not only was the American military and government concerned but the World at large needed answers. Besides that, James needed answers about Siberia and about how Tony was holding up. Pepper had tried to tell him over the phone when he first got out of surgery but without seeing the footage himself, there was little he could understand in Pep’s upset rambling. What he had figured out is that Tones went as a friend, against the accords, and came out too close to death at the hands of 2 super soldiers.
The photos of the armor left no imagination of what had been slammed over and over into the arc reactor that Rhodes saw red. He had to control his breathing while remembering that Tony didn’t have the reactor in his chest anymore. Mentally he wasn’t free from the anger he felt towards Captain America. Rogers had crushed his best friend’s heart but almost physically after ripping into it emotionally. ‘Don’t think of that, not what Stane did but pretty fucking close ’ some darker part of his mind snarled at the time. It had made him want to crawl back into War Machine and show Rogers the type of firepower came to blast you in the face when you crossed his best fucking friend .
He had to remember that this is what separates him and Rogers, a legend that had inspired thousands to serve their country only to break one of their oldest codes of conduct, of human decency: ‘No Man Left Behind’. In his 138 missions as War Machine and even during his standard military deployment, the thought of leaving a man behind, even an enemy turned his stomach.
He would do everything to aid Tony, but he knew when that loyalty turned from Trust into Blind Faith. He slept easier at night knowing the kind of person he had picked to love would never ask for blind faith. If anything Tony encouraged others to fight him if they didn’t fully trust his actions. That attitude added to his long guilt over his weapons landing in the wrong hands without his his knowledge, it was no wonder he supported the Accords.
For now, his personal feelings on that would have to wait until the ExAvengers were located and he got it from Tony what was going on. A part of his worry was that his idiot genius had experimented on himself in order to keep working on the Accords. Not that he wasn’t happy with Tony still breathing, but the consequences of the actions taken from a desperate man were something he needed to know. It would help him plan ahead to be able to support the kid he had believed in since he first met him at MIT. While he would always be loyal to the man, he would also make sure his ambitious friend didn’t take everything on his shoulders on anymore. ‘Family helps lighten the load, that’s what we are here for, Always’ .