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It started on May 2, when Jim’s sister shrieking from the family room had brought him running. “Holy crap, Jimmy,” she had whispered, since their parents weren’t around to read her the riot act over her language. She had gestured wildly at the television. “You’re gonna go to school with the Stark heir!”
Jim had just rolled his eyes, once he had ascertained that there was no actual emergency. “Yeah, me and about ten thousand other people. I’m never even gonna see him, twerp, let alone meet him. And isn’t he like twelve anyway?”
“Fifteen,” she’d interjected, all heart eyes, and that explained a lot.
“Right, well, we’re hardly gonna become best buds so you can quit acting like he’s coming home for Thanksgiving.”
But then his Residence Life Package had arrived, and stuffed into the back of the packet like an afterthought was an extra memo, getting into very detailed specifics about extra security and proprietary rights and privacy in dorm life. And a few weeks after that was the mysterious, free upgrade to a nicer building -- the building that had, in fact, just been slotted for a full remodel and update over the summer, including a top of the line student lounge. Nobody came right out and said it, but Jim knew his luck, and by the time August rolled around, he was pretty sure that Anthony Stark was going to be his roommate.
*
Moving in was even more chaotic and crazy than Jim had expected, what seemed like thousands of freshmen with their families and all their stuff milling around, waiting for their turn to check in and get their room assignment and their keys. And while they were waiting, he couldn’t help watching all the other kids, wondering which one was his future roommate.
He’d tried looking up Anthony Stark as his suspicions had grown over the past few months, but while there’d been a lot of mentions of him, the Starks had done a good job of keeping his picture out of the papers. The most recent picture Jim had been able to find was when Anthony had built his first circuit board. At the age of three. Because of course he had.
So Jim had no idea who he was looking for, which meant that almost every person he saw had the potential of being him. For the millionth time, he let his gaze drift over the quad. There was a guy over in the north-east corner, trying to chat up some girl, who had actual movers there, like eight of them, lined up and waiting to shift all his stuff. And there was --
Jim winced as somebody moved away and he spotted a guy that he hadn’t noticed before. He was standing all alone beside a sad little pile of boxes, clutching the handle of a suitcase just a little too tight. He kept switching between looking around with quick, furtive glances, and then staring down at the ground, messy hair falling in front of his face, which was barely visible anyway beneath huge glasses. He had his back pressed up tight against the wall, like he was doing his best to make himself invisible. He looked young, too, and for a brief moment Jim thought that maybe… But no, that didn’t make any sense. The Starks were one of the richest families in America, and he’d read that the baby Stark was already being groomed to be the innovative future of Stark Industries. Of course they wouldn’t just leave him there like that.
He kept looking around, had his guess narrowed down to the guy with the movers and another guy who was simpering as his mother obviously fawned all over him. Neither one of them looked like someone he’d particularly want to be a roommate with, but he couldn’t find it in himself to worry about it. His gaze kept going back to the kid by the wall. Most of the other freshmen were happy, maybe a little nervous, but even the ones who were crying over leaving their families looked excited too. This kid though, looked absolutely terrified, and while he wasn’t crying, he had this quiet sort of sadness about him. His fingers were tapping out an uneven, nervous pattern against his thigh, and Jim felt something twist in his stomach. He’d just about decided to go over and introduce himself, because if anyone needed a friend it was this guy, but then he got distracted by some pointless argument with his sister, and when he looked back over again, the guy was gone, leaving a wake of guilt in Jim’s stomach.
*
As it turned out, admissions had fucked something up with their check-in system, and so they were hours behind schedule. Rather than waiting in the hot crowd of people, the Rhodes family had elected to grab some lunch in a nice, air conditioned restaurant, and come back when the line had died down a bit. When they made it back to campus, his mother sent Jim up ahead to his room while the rest of the family started unpacking the car. He was hesitating outside the door, double checking the room number against the one scribbled on his sheet of paper, when he heard voices inside.
“Dad, come on! Can’t you guys stay a little longer? At least until I finish unpacking?”
The voice wasn’t whiny, or the usual irritated tone that Jim might have expected from a teenager arguing with his parents. Instead he just sounded sad, and so, so disappointed.
“Anthony, enough!” an older male voice snapped back. “I thought you agreed you weren’t going to cause any drama today.”
“I’m not,” Anthony said quickly, voice carefully neutral. “I just… I thought you guys would at least stay until I unpacked, and maybe we could get dinner or something before you go.”
“Well, we’re not.”
“That’s what all the other kids are doing.”
It sounded like a last-ditch effort, and Jim could hear Howard Stark’s answering snort as clearly as if he’d been standing beside him.
“‘What all the other kids are doing?’” he repeated. “And tell me, are you ‘just like’ all the other kids?”
“No.” The answer was soft, quiet, and just a little resentful.
“Howard…” That was from a quiet female voice, who Jim assumed was Anthony’s mother. There was a hint of warning in it, but Howard didn’t seem inclined to listen.
“That’s right, you’re not. You’re a goddamn Stark, and it’s time to grow up and act like it. So no, Mommy and Daddy aren’t going to hold your hand through university. Stop crying about it.”
Jim winced, feeling a little sick at the derision in his voice. This man was talking to his own son, his only child, and he sounded like he was completely disgusted by him. Jim had gotten in some pretty big arguments with his parents before, but he couldn’t imagine either of them talking to him with that cold indifference in their voices, no matter how angry they were with him. And worse, he couldn’t even figure out what Howard Stark really had to be angry about. His son wanted to have dinner with his parents, when he probably wouldn’t even see them again before Thankgiving? What was wrong with this man?
“I’m not crying,” Anthony protested, but even Jim could hear the waver in his voice. “I just… It’s the first day of university, Dad, and I’m younger than everyone here, and it’s… It’s supposed to be a big deal. I thought you’d stay a bit, is all.”
“Jesus Christ,” Howard bit out, earning another reproachful murmur from his wife. “You know we only brought you up ourselves because it coincided with my meeting with Dr. Franklin. Grow up, Anthony. You may be younger than everyone else, but you’re still old enough to leave home. And if you’re old enough to go to university, you’re old enough to be a goddamn man about it.”
“I didn’t even want to go to university yet! I wanted to wait until I was the same age as everyone else. You’re the one who insisted I start now, just because of the stupid Stark legacy and because of how good it would look for the stupid investors.”
“What did you just say to me?”
Howard’s voice had gone icy cold, and Jim felt unease ripple through him.
“Howard, that’s enough,” his wife insisted, but he wasn’t listening.
“No. What did you just say? Come on, son, say it again. I dare you.”
Jim had never met Anthony Stark, but he felt a sudden wave of overprotectiveness toward him. Before he could think the better of it, he was shoving the door open, walking in with his box in hand like he’d just arrived.
“Oh, hey!” he said, feigning surprise at the sight of the people in the room. He wasn’t exactly surprised to find that Anthony Stark was the kid he’d spotted earlier on the quad, but it somehow made his whole exchange with his father that much sadder, knowing how alone he’d been out there, surrounded by all those people with their families. He gave him a bright smile, pretending not to notice the red tinge across the tops of Anthony’s cheeks, or the way he gave a hasy swipe at his eyes. “I’m Jim Rhodes. I guess I’m your roommate!”
For a moment, there was a long, slightly awkward silence, and Jim could tell that they were trying to work out if he’d heard anything. He didn’t let his smile falter, setting his box down on the empty bed. Without a word, Howard and his wife moved into action, saying good-bye to their son and preparing to leave. Jim kept half an eye on them as he unpacked his toiletries from the box and lined them up on his night table, watching Maria wrap an arm around Tony and place a gentle kiss on his cheek before Howard came over to shake his hand, the gesture cold and indifferent.
He didn’t hear what, if anything, they said to him as he left, but then they were gone. Anthony sank onto his bed in their absence in a way that was both disappointed and relieved. He seemed to have forgotten that he wasn’t alone in the room, and Jim found himself clearing his throat a little awkwardly.
“Uh. You must be Anthony, huh?” he asked, offering out his hand. Anthony looked up at Jim with sharp eyes, and he could see the intelligence there. Somehow, for all he still felt sorry for him, he knew better than to think he was naive.
“Tony,” he offered, taking Jim’s hand after a beat. “No one calls me Anthony.” He met Jim’s gaze. “My dad only does it when he’s showing off, or pissed at me. Or both.”
It was said easily, like it was just an absolute fact that Jim had overheard Howard using the name, like that kind of exchange was normal, and Jim winced. Now that the immediate threat was gone, he wasn't quite sure what to do with himself, what to say besides ‘sorry about your family’ which seemed inappropriate, if fitting. But Tony seemed to have that covered too.
“Strawberry?” he offered, out of the blue, and Jim blinked as he was met with a glass bowl full of fresh, plump strawberries.
“Uhh…”
Tony gave him a shy, sweet little smile, at odds with the resigned look he’d been wearing before. “Jarvis, our butler?” He made a face, like he knew how that sounded, and then waved it off. “He snuck them in for me. He knows they’re my favourite.” He shook the jar a little, looking hopeful. It felt like a lot more than a strawberry, Tony so easily sharing the one small bit of joy in what seemed to have been an absolutely shitty day, and Jim didn’t know what he’d been expecting from the Stark heir, but it sure wasn’t this. He took one, popping it in his mouth and Tony beamed at him, looking absolutely delighted that his little gift had been accepted. Jim felt himself getting pulled into the force of that smile. He was pretty sure Tony Stark was going to be the end of him, and he was pretty sure he was going to love every minute of the ride.
“Listen,” he said quickly, taking a seat beside Tony. “My family’s gonna be here any second, and I feel like I should apologize in advance, because they can kind of be a lot. They mean well, I promise.”
Tony offered up another shy little smile. “You don’t have to apologize for that,” he told him, a wistful note in his voice. “It sounds… Nice.”
“Yeah, it kind of is,” Jim admitted. “But you’ll find out soon enough. My momma kinda tends to adopt people, and she’s gonna be ready to trade me for you in about five seconds.”
Tony gave a little giggle at that, ducking his head, and Jim had to resist the sudden urge to coo because good lord, he was adorable. He felt another surge of anger toward his terrible family; someone thi sweet didn’t deserve that kind of bullshit.
“Anyway, they’re planning to drive back to Philly tonight, and my dad’s already getting antsy about how behind schedule they are, so they probably won’t stay too long once they get me settled. You wanna grab some dinner after they’re gone? Maybe wander around and try to figure out this campus?”
“Really?” Tony looked heartbreakingly startled. “You want to have dinner with me?”
Jim nudged against his shoulder. “You seeing a whole lotta other roommates in this room that I’d be grabbing dinner with?”
Tony snorted, but there was a flush spreading across the tops of his cheeks, a goofy little grin twitching at his lips. “Yeah,” he said softly, half to the bedspread, half glancing shyly up at Jim. “I’d like that a lot. That sounds like a great way to end the day.”