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Rhodey hesitated at the top of the stairs down to Tony’s workshop. He’d tried to give Tony his space. He knew Tony could easily get caught up in a project and forget about the world for several days. But there were little things that suggested this was more than that. Things of the sort Rhodey had been on the lookout for since the palladium situation, and even more since they’d started dating. Things like Tony turning away from him when he offered a hug, passing it off as a natural movement as he pulled out his phone. A slight hesitation when they cuddled together on the couch. Subtle ways of pushing him away.
It had been nearly three months since Rhodey’s best friend had kissed him for the first time - actually kissed him while sober, that is - and they’d begun this crazy journey they were calling a relationship. Rhodey felt himself falling further for Tony every day, and he was terrified that this new distance was Tony’s way of backing out. Rhodey took a deep breath and smoothed his shirt. He would talk to Tony rationally, ask him straight out. Setting his jaw, he walked down the stairs.
Tony looked up from his holograms, blue light reflecting in his dark, glazed eyes. “What’s up, honeybear?” he asked.
“Look, Tones, I just need to know what’s going on. Is this another ‘I’m dying and not telling anyone’ thing, or an ‘I’m breaking up with you’ thing, or just an ‘I’m reinventing the laws of physics thing?”
Tony closed the hologram and responded with automatic blustering. He wanted to confide in Rhodey, but he couldn’t find the words.
“What thing? There’s no thing. Why would there be a thing? I-”
“Tony,” Rhodey said, talking over Tony’s rambling. He walked across the workshop, skirting a chestplate Tony had tossed aside at some point. Tony frowned. Was that yesterday? How long had he been down here, anyway? Rhodey’s hand landed on his arm, pulling him out of his spiraling thoughts, and Tony looked up into his boyfriend’s worried eyes. “You’ve been down here over two days, Tones,” he said, “and avoiding me for nearly a week, now. What’s wrong?”
Tony hesitated, lost in those bright eyes, but then his defenses slammed back into place. “Avoiding you, platypus?” he asked, eyebrows going up in mock shock. “Nonsense. I’ve just been busy. New idea for the armor. If I can just get this right, I can increase the speed efficiency by a factor of three.” He looked away from Rhodey, gesturing with his off hand. “Unlike some people, you know, Iron Man actually uses things like speed and stealth.” Tony looked back at Rhodey and suddenly found himself at a loss for words. All his clever explanations about the new modifications blew away like so much smoke, leaving him staring into the eyes of this man he was dangerously close to in love with.
Rhodey was watching him with an expectant sort of patience, face calm. Tony stared into his eyes for a moment, then sighed and looked down at the grease-spattered ground.
“It’s stupid, Rhodey,” he said to the ground. Rhodey’s hand moved from his arm to his shoulder, rubbing gentle circles there. Tony shivered at the touch. He loved the way Rhodey’s simple presence lit his skin on fire.
“It’s not stupid if it’s making you feel like you need to hide from me,” Rhodey said. “You’re my boyfriend, Tones, and my best friend. Besides, you remember what happened last time you tried to hide things from me.”
That got a chuckle out of Tony. “In my defense, I was dying at the time,” he pointed out, just as he did every time Rhodey brought up the palladium incident. “And hey, you got a suit out of it, so I don’t want to hear any complaints.”
“Fair enough,” Rhodey agreed. “Still should have told me, though. So why don’t you tell me what’s got you twisted up this time?”
In response, Tony turned around and pressed a kiss to Rhodey’s lips. Rhodey froze in surprise for a brief instant before returning the kiss, and Tony reveled in the heady rush of Rhodey’s soft lips against his own. He stepped back before he could get lost in the kiss. Rhodey stared at him, surprise and confusion in every line of his face and a spark of desire in his eyes. Tony sighed again.
“That,” he said.
“What?” Rhodey asked, frown lines pulling his full lips down into an expression Tony knew intimately. The “I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I probably disapprove” scowl was combined with the “I’m worried about you” eyebrows. Rhodey used that combination a lot with him.
“Kissing you,” Tony responded. “Not in a bad way,” he corrected hurriedly, seeing hurt start make its way into Rhodey’s expression. “Kind of exactly the opposite.” The hurt went away, but the other expressions remained firmly in place. “I’ve kissed a lot of people,” Tony continued. “Not that you didn’t know that. Don’t know how you put up with that, really, but anyway, I can say with a fair bit of authority that your kisses, not to mention the rest of everything, you know, I mean, I hope you know… but let’s focus on the kissing right now. Well, it’s the best I’ve ever had.” The frown of disapproval was dissipating, even edging into a smile, but the eyebrows of confusion were, if anything, more pronounced.
“So what’s the problem, Tones?”
Tony stepped forward and reached up to run his hand down Rhodey’s cheek. He shrugged, mouth quirking up at one side. “What happens when it’s not the best anymore?” he whispered. “It’s been three months. This is the longest I’ve been in a relationship, honeybear. What happens when the sparks fade?”
Rhodey’s eyes cleared in sudden understanding, and he swept Tony into a tight hug. “Tones,” he said, nuzzling Tony’s hair. “Oh, Tones, you don’t have to be afraid.” He pulled back to look into Tony’s eyes. “You… that’s why you did it, isn’t it?” he asked. “All those women? You were chasing the sparks, the feeling of someone new in your arms.”
Tony nodded. “I know, that’s shallow and awful and I totally deserve everything the tabloids say about me,” he started, but Rhodey cut him of with a quick, hard kiss.
“It’s not awful, Tones. Absolutely not. It’s a great feeling. Sparks, butterflies, heat, whatever you call it, it’s one of the best parts of a new relationship.”
“So what do you do when it’s gone?” Tony asked.
Rhodey cast his eyes up to the ceiling as if searching for an explanation.
“It doesn’t work like that, Tones. It…” Rhodey paused, and Tony, as always, filled in the blank with words.
“It kind of has to fade. It’s science, you know. It’s inevitable. I mean, I can reinvent the laws of physics, but this is biology.”
“Sure, it fades.” Rhodey responded. “But there’s something beyond that feeling. Is it really just butterflies for you with me? Because it’s more than that for me.”
Tony froze, lips parted around another flippant phrase, caught by Rhodey’s confession. He thought about the way Rhodey felt in his arms, how different it was from all the people he’d held before. He clenched and unclenched his hand at his side. “It’s more than that for me, too,” he said.
They stared at each other, eyes bright, before crashing together, lips and tongues meeting in a fevered rush. Energy flowed through them, sparks flaring in the way Tony ran his hands down the long, clean lines of Rhodey’s back and the way Rhodey twined a hand into Tony’s messy hair. The kiss intensified until they were panting desperately and then mellowed until they were breathing and moving in unison, hearts and bodies alive with the touch between them. When they drew back, Rhodey cupped a hand to Tony’s cheek and traced his thumb lightly along the lines of Tony’s goatee, blurred slightly by stubble after so long spent in the workshop. “Let’s enjoy this,” Rhodey said into the hush between their heartbeats. “And when it fades, let’s find out what we’ve built underneath.”
About six months later, Tony was undoing the buttons on his dress shirt, jacket tossed casually over the nearest chair after a long day of Pepper-mandated meetings.
“Hey, handsome,” said Rhodey, coming up behind him for a hug. Tony turned in Rhodey’s arms and brushed a kiss across his lips.
“Hey, yourself,” he responded, stepping back to admire the figure his boyfriend cut in his uniform. He swept his eyes down Rhodey’s long, elegant frame and then up to his equally long and elegant face and big, expressive eyes. Tony knew every inch of that face, every line around those eyes, every expression of those full lips. He leaned in to kiss Rhodey, their mouths fitting together with easy familiarity. He knew every part of this, too. The way Rhodey’s lips moved, the taste of him, the smell and warmth of his skin. Tony leaned into the feeling, every tension of the day giving way as something unlocked deep inside him. He leaned back, breathing deep and peacefully, the blue light of the arc reactor shining in both their eyes.
“You were right not to worry,” Tony said, wonder and love in his voice. Rhodey’s eyebrows inched toward a frown. Tony’s thought process could be hard to follow, but Rhodey was very adept at figuring out where Tony ended up each time he jumped on a lightspeed train of thought.
“About what?” he asked.
“The sparks,” Tony replied. “I was afraid it would be boring. That to become normal would be to become mundane. But it didn’t. It’s… perfect.” Tony was still staring intently into Rhodey’s eyes. “At least, it is for me,” he added, suddenly awkward as he looked away.
Rhodey’s breath caught, and he swept Tony into a crushing hug. “It is for me, too. Is this the first time you’ve noticed?”
Tony breathed into the hug, pressing back just as tightly. “Yeah,” he breathed. “You’ve felt it before?”
“I’ve felt it for a while now, Tones.” He pressed a kiss to the slope of Tony’s shoulder where his dress shirt had slid down, feeling the smooth, cool skin under his lips. “Since about six months in, I guess? I call it love.”
Tony jerked back at that, wide-eyed. They’d said the words before. The first time was not long after the sparks conversation, actually. So he wasn’t sure what caught him about that declaration. Maybe it was the conviction, the absolute certainty in Rhodey’s voice. Maybe it was Tony’s own realization of the same feeling. Tony pulled Rhodey in for another familiar, comfortable kiss, feeling that same unlocking, that overwhelming joy and peace. “I love you, too,” he said.