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Tony didn't know why he woke up that night.
He wasn't a particularly light sleeper nor a heavy one. Maybe it was because with Morgan barely a year old, he woke at the barest creak of the floorboards, but it didn't matter why. What mattered was that he did wake up and there was someone standing at the doorway of his bedroom.
It was a man by the look of his shadow and Tony could hear Pepper's words from last night. They had watched a horror movie and she said, "Now, I feel like we're going to get murdered in this lake house and nobody is going to hear us scream because our neighbor is a lake away!"
He had brushed off her post-horror movie paranoia, saying, "Nobody is going to get past Friday and did you forget that you're married to a superhero?"
All that ran through Tony's mind in seconds. Somehow somebody had gotten past Friday and now they might get murdered. His racing heartbeat pounded in his ears.
"Tony," the shadow whispered, taking a couple steps into the room and stopping right at the foot of the bed, moonlight shone on the man's face.
"Rhodey?" Tony glanced at his bedside table. It read 2 AM. "What the hell, man?" he hissed because the girls were asleep and he didn't want to wake them. "You scared me! What are you doing here at this damn hour?"
Rhodey seemed to be thinking of what to say, like there was something heavy on his mind but couldn't put it to words. He eventually settled on "It's nothing."
"Nothing?" whispered Tony, slowly sitting up. "You snuck in my house and—"
"It's not sneaking when you technically gave me a key."
Tony rolled his eyes. It was too early in the damn morning for semantics. "For emergency purposes and you're here."
"I should just go. I'm sorry I scared you."
Tony sighed. "No, clearly you needed to see me. What's up?"
Rhodey crossed his arms. "You already said it… I needed to see you."
Tony's eyes softened as he understood what his friend was implying. It had only been a year since the Decimation but that didn't mean that everybody was over it.
Rhodey was there in Wakanda. He told Tony about fighting four armed aliens, about searching for Sam, seeing Vision's gray body like the printer had run out of colored ink, dust billowing in the wind around him.
James Rhodes was a hardened air force pilot. He had killed men before, seen bloodshed, faced a fire-breathing mad man, but sometimes... Sometimes, even James Rhodes had nightmares and the way he was looking at Tony tonight told the latter that it was bad enough for Rhodey to make the trip all the way to the lake house and sneak into Tony's room just so he can look at Tony, see him alive and breathing.
"And I've seen you, so that's that." But Rhodey made no move to leave.
Tony took pity on him and scooted closer to his wife who was thankfully too asleep to notice they had a guest. He softly said, "Get over here."
Rhodey hesitated. "What? No." He gestured to Pepper. He wasn't just gonna go and join them in bed. There was a line drawn somewhere. "I'll just be in the guest room."
"There isn't a mattress in there yet."
"So, I'll sleep on the couch downstairs."
"Not with those legs! Are you crazy? Besides, Pepper will kill me if she found out I let you sleep on the couch."
"She'll kill you if she finds out I'm in your bed."
"It's a big bed. There's room." Tony patted the spot beside him.
Rhodey glanced at Pepper. "That's your wife, man."
"So? She's asleep. Relax."
Rhodey shifted on one foot then another. Tony could see him trying to work out the pros and cons to this arrangement and Tony's voice box was getting strained from all the audible whispering.
Tony waved him over again. "Stop hesitating and get in here, honeybear."
Finally, Rhodey gave in. He kicked off his shoes, removed his leg brace, and then hefted himself under the covers beside Tony. He lay on his back, fingers intertwined on his stomach. "This is weird," he whispered after a moment.
"It's nothing we haven't done before." Tony and Rhodey have been through a lot and that included having seen each other naked and driving each other to the hospital after a very wild college party.
"But now, we're doing it with your wife."
Tony ignored that and instead nudged Rhodey on his side. "Do you want to talk about it?"
They both stared at the ceiling, blinking silently into the night. And then, Rhodey said, "Danvers hauled the ship back to the compound but she was too late. Oxygen had run out and you were already dead."
Tony reached out for Rhodes' hand. "I'm not," he wanted to say, but he knew that sometimes just being there was enough.
...
Pepper got up to pee at around five in the morning and when she crawled back in bed, she slung an arm around Tony's side. Her hand landed on his glutes as well as on another pair of glutes.
Huh.
Pepper cracked open an eye and blearily looked over at Tony's side of the bed.
There was another person in bed with them. She opened her eyes wide, looking intently now, sleep dissipating the longer she looked.
Was that Rhodey? What was he doing in bed? He and Tony were literally butt-cheek to butt-cheek.
Pepper gently shook Tony who grumbled.
She shook him again, whispering, "Tony."
His eyes were closed but he replied, "What?"
"There's a person sharing our bed."
"Yeah. Don't worry. It's not a serial killer. I invited him. Thought you wouldn't mind."
Thought she wouldn't mind? What was this, a dinner party? "You what?"
Tony finally opened his eyes, yawning. "He had a nightmare," he said, looking his wife in the eyes and hoping she'd understand. "He needed to know I was alive. I couldn't just send him home."
Pepper licked her lips. "Of course not." She looked sympathetically at their friend. He looked to be sleeping so she might as well try too. She lay back down, face-to-face with Tony. After a few moments, she said, "It's weird."
Tony brushed her hair away from her face. "Trust me, he didn't want to make it awkward—"
"No, I meant that it's weird knowing he gets nightmares too. I just never thought he'd have them, you know. Because he's Rhodey and he's always this tough guy. But it makes sense."
"He wasn't trained for this. None of us were." He rubbed Pepper's arm soothingly. "I have to admit, that it's kind of a relief knowing I'm not the only one who's a little messed up. I heard Thor even refuses to leave his house."
"Well, you're doing fine." Pepper caressed his cheek endearingly. "It's been a while since you had an episode."
Tony still had them, he just knew how to handle them better.. and hide them. "Yeah but that's because I have you and Morgan grounding me. And you guys are more than distractions; you two save me everyday. I look at you and can't believe how lucky I am."
Pepper began to giggle silently, her body shaking as she tried to suppress it.
Tony frowned. "Why are you laughing? I just made that whole heartfelt speech and you're laughing?"
"It's not that. It's just... Rhodey's in our bed."
Tony started to laugh too.
"I knew when I married you, Rhodey was part of the deal, but this is just so amusing."
"Now, all we need is Happy to get in here."
The image of all four of them cramped in this bed, even if it was a Super King, made the couple laugh harder.
"Ssh," Pepper said, wiping tears from her eyes. "I don't know why I thought we'd ever be a normal married couple."
"Really?" Tony cocked an eye. "You want to trade this for normal?"
Pepper shook her head. "Not for the world." She kissed Tony softly on the lips and rested her forehead against his. "I love you."
"I love you too." He whispered back, kissing her again only this time it wasn't as soft. He started moving the blanket away while Pepper moaned her hesitation.
"Tony," but Tony kissed her again. "We shouldn't." Tony slid a cold hand under her shirt. Pepper broke the kiss, pulling his hand out.
"We have a guest," she reminded him, licking her lips.
Her husband only smirked, like he was willing to rise to the challenge. "So? He's sleeping." He moved to kiss her but Pepper looked away, he got her cheek instead.
She gave him a look. "I'm not having sex with you while Rhodey's in bed with us."
"He won't notice. He's a heavy sleeper." As if on cue, Rhodey snored. Tony nodded at his direction. "See? Oblivious."
"It's not about him not knowing. It's about respecting his presence. You know how he is when we kiss in front of him. He's gonna be so embarrassed."
It was sort of a running joke between the three of them that Pepper and Tony just couldn't stop kissing in front of Rhodey. Tony took it upon himself to make sure he kissed Pepper in front of Rhodey as frequently and as passionately as he could make it while Rhodey made it a habit to half-heartedly complain as loudly as he could.
"Okay, fine." Tony relaxed beside her. "But when he wakes up, can I tell him we had sex while he was asleep?"
Pepper rolled her eyes. "No."
"Can I refer to this night as the time we had a threesome?"
"No." She kissed him, light and chaste because he did manage to restrain himself.
Rhodey groaned, stirring.
Pepper immediately shoved Tony away at the same time Rhodey sleepily said, "Ugh, get a room."
Tony scoffed and elbowed his friend. "We did. But you're in it."
Rhodey seemed to realize where he was and he sat up. He looked around. "Oh, right. My bad. I'm sorry. I should go." He started to rise but Pepper stopped him.
"No, don't go! Tony promises to behave himself." Tony laughed while Pepper, got out of bed and put on a robe. "Stay for breakfast."
Tony slung an arm and leg over Rhodey, trapping him. There wasn't much Rhodey could do without his leg brace on, anyway. "Staaaay, Rhodeyyyy."
Rhodey chuckled, pushing him away half-heartedly. "Fine, fine."
Tony planted a wet kiss on Rhodey's cheek who groaned and said, "Brush your teeth!"
Pepper laughed at the two best friends and paused by the doorway to ask, "Tony, do you want pancakes or waffles?"
"Waffles," Tony said, his cheek resting atop Rhodey's head.
"Rhodey?"
"Waffles, please, Pep. Thank you."
"Okay. Now, you boys behave yourselves too because the baby is still sleeping and I want it to stay that way."
"Right-o, Mommy. You're the best. I love you!"
With a quick "Love you!" back, Pepper disappeared down the hall.
Tony expectantly looked at Rhodey who was having the time of his life enjoying Tony's Egyptian cotton sheets.
Tony kneed Rhodey who frowned at him, confused. "What?"
"Aren't you gonna say 'I love you' to my wife?"
"Why would I do that? She's your wife."
"Who's making you a waffle and didn't kick you out of bed. A little sign of affection wouldn't hurt, you ungrateful swine."
"I said 'Thank you!'"
"But she said 'I love you' and you're supposed to say 'I love you' back."
"She was saying that to you!"
"She was saying it to the both of us!"
"Are you seriously making me—" Tony nodded. "Fine." Rhodey lifted himself up a fraction and yelled. "I love you, Pep! You're the greatest best friend-in-law a best friend could have!" He turned to Tony. "That good?"
"Yeah, but a best friend-in-law isn't a thing."
"Of course it is. It's—"
They were interrupted by the sound of Morgan crying through the baby monitor.
Tony hit Rhodey again who glared at him.
Tony got out of bed and headed for the door. He shot Rhodey a look of disappointment. "What is wrong with you! You had to shout."
Rhodey sighed and collapsed back into the bed. At least he had a nice sleep. It may have only been three hours of shut-eye but it was still a full one that didn't involve seeing Tony's face contorted in agony as he tried to breathe Oxygen in a ship that didn't have any.
Tony came back to the room, cradling Morgan who had gone quiet. He set Morgan beside Rhodey who cooed, "Hey, little girl. You're okay. Uncle Rhodey's sorry he woke you." He kissed Morgan's head while Tony continued his lecture on the right tone of voice to use in the Stark household.
When Pepper came back up to the bedroom to call the two men down to breakfast, she found Rhodey and Tony asleep with Morgan between them.
She smiled, melting at the sight. She closed the door and climbed into bed next to Tony.
Breakfast could wait.