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There were few things in this world that Tony loved more than when Rhodey came over to babysit. He didn’t have much control over when he went into his headspace, so if the timing wasn’t right he couldn’t just snap out of it, and there’s no way Tony could be left alone while he was little. Sometimes one of the other Avengers would step in if Steve was busy, sometimes it was Phil if the whole team was busy, and sometimes Rhodey would get called in. And those days were some of the best days.
As soon as the elevator doors opened, Tony was running. “Rhodey!” He ran into Rhodey’s arms at full-force, nearly knocking him over.
“Hey little man, how’re you doing?” Rhodey asked, laughing. He pulled Tony into a hug and ruffled his hair.
“Good! C’mon, you gotta see what I made!” Tony took Rhodey’s hand and pulled him into the dining room, where the table was covered with Legos. Tony’s headspace was usually very, very young, but often times when he was with Rhodey, he aged up a little bit and was more in the range of a toddler. Nobody really knew why that was, but Tony certainly wasn’t complaining. When he was a little older than he normally was, they could play so many more games together! Rhodey was really good at playing with army men and action figures; he made the best sound effects.
Tony climbed into his chair at the table and gestured grandly to his creation. He had an Avengers LEGO set, nearly three thousand pieces that built the SHIELD helicarrier, which was about three-fourths finished. True to Tony’s style, he’d strayed from the instruction booklet and added a few extra pieces here and there to make it a little more true-to-life.
Rhodey had to admit, he was impressed. Not surprised in the slightest, but definitely impressed. “That’s the coolest Lego-ing I’ve seen in a long time, Tony. Very nice work.” Rhodey held out his fist, and Tony bumped it excitedly with his own, feeling oh so very proud of himself. “Hey, is your daddy around here somewhere?”
Tony nodded. “Daddy!”
Steve emerged from the kitchen, hanging up his phone as he entered the dining room. “Sorry, I had some business to take care of.” He apologized.
“Not a problem, Tony was just showing me his awesome helicarrier.” Rhodey smiled, putting his hand on Tony’s shoulder, and Tony beamed.
Steve laughed. “Ah yes, that’s his latest project. We haven’t been able to eat at this table for a week.”
“Seems like a week well-spent, at least.” Rhodey said.
Steve shrugged, and winked at Tony playfully. “Colonel, do you want to come into the kitchen with me for a second?”
“I wanna come!” Tony said loudly, perking up.
“Oh, you wouldn’t wanna come with us, we’re just gonna talk about boring grown-up stuff.” ‘Boring grown-up stuff’ was code for ‘we need to talk about where Tony’s headspace is and how to plan for the day accordingly, and that’s much easier to do without him there because that kinda talk just makes him feel uncomfortable, so it’s best if he just doesn’t know that we’re talking about it in the first place’. Tony’s face scrunched up at the thought of just how boring that boring grown-up stuff sounded. “We won’t take too long, no need to pout. Do you want me to get you a snack while we’re in the kitchen?”
Tony nodded excitedly. “Popcorn!” When Steve shot him a look, he added, “Please? And juice?”
“You got it, sweetie.” Steve and Rhodey went into the kitchen, allowing the swing door to give them some privacy to discuss matters. Steve unwrapped a package of microwave popcorn and put it in the microwave and started it.
“So where’s Tony at today?” Rhodey asked.
“You can probably tell he’s not super little today, but I’m still giving him his juice in a sippy cup, and I’ve got him in a pull-up just in case.”
Rhodey nodded. “Sounds good, does he need a nap later on?”
“Only if he seems like he’s getting tired or cranky, but it’s not a big deal one way or the other.” Steve said as he poured apple juice into one of Tony’s cups and he screwed on the lid. The microwave beeped to announce that it was done, and Rhodey took the popcorn out and dumped it into a bowl.
“Anything else, Captain?”
“I think that should be it, JARVIS can lend a hand if anything comes up. I’m pretty sure he knows the routine better than I do.” Steve laughed, and they walked back into the dining room with Tony’s snack. Tony was pushing a little rubber Lego tire back and forth on the table, trying to keep himself occupied while his daddy and Rhodey did their boring grown-up talking, and Rhodey noticed (now that he knew to look for it) the back of a pull-up peeking over the waist of Tony’s jeans. Rhodey set the popcorn bowl down on one of the few spots on the table with enough space that it wouldn’t disrupt the Legos. Steve handed the sippy cup to Tony, who rushed out a ‘thank you daddy’ before he shoved the spout into his mouth and sucked contently on the juice. Steve slid his fingers through the little boy’s hair. “Alright Tony, I have to go now, okay? You’re gonna be good for Rhodey while I’m gone, right?”
“Yes daddy,” Tony said. Steve kissed Tony on the forehead, thanked Rhodey, and went on his way. Tony was pretty sure his daddy had to go to a meeting with Clint, Tasha, and Mr. Agent Coulson at SHIELD. He was glad that Rhodey was there to watch him, because otherwise his daddy might’ve had to take him to the meeting with him, and meetings were always so boring no matter how old he was. And Rhodey was the best babysitter ever, so it was a win-win for Tony.
“Alright kiddo, what do you think about having your snack over on the couch? Maybe we can watch a movie?” Rhodey suggested.
“Okay!” Tony grabbed his cup and slid off of his chair, and scurried to the couch. Rhodey laughed to himself at Tony’s enthusiasm as he followed behind him with the popcorn. “What can we watch?”
“Whatever you want, it’s your pick kid.” Rhodey knew that getting to make a decision, even one so small, was a big deal to Tony, it made him feel important. Tony picked Big Hero 6 . He’d watched it more times than he could keep track of with the other Avengers, but it was the first time Rhodey had ever seen it, so Tony was absolutely thrilled to show him how awesome it was.
There was only a few minutes left of the movie and Tony had finished his juice and between the two of them there was only a handful of popcorn left in the bowl. Tony’s eyes were still glued to the screen and he watched with as much excitement as if it were his first time seeing the movie. But Rhodey noticed the way he was squirming and how his hand was balled up in the hem of his shirt.
“Is everything okay, Tony?” He asked.
“Uh-huh,” Tony answered way too quickly, glancing at him for a split-second. Rhodey had an idea of what was going on, but since Tony’s headspace had him a little older than he usually was, he wanted to see how Tony would handle the situation he was in, if he’d know better than to pretend that nothing was wrong. As soon as the credits appeared on the screen, Tony jumped up from the couch. He was just a little too late though, and he froze mid-stride. “Uh oh,” He whimpered, looking down and grabbing the front of his jeans with both hands. His cheeks turned a dark pink as he stood there, too ashamed to run away like he desperately wanted to.
“Tony?” Rhodey got up and stood in front of Tony, putting a hand on his shoulder. “What happened?”
Tony started to sniffle. “Had an accident,” he said quietly, refusing to meet Rhodey’s eyes. “Didn’t mean too.”
Rhodey rubbed his shoulder gently. “That’s why it’s called an ‘accident’, kiddo. And it’s nothing to get upset over. Right JARVIS?” He figured if anyone could convince Tony of something, it was probably JARVIS.
“Colonel Rhodes is absolutely right, young Sir,” the AI assured.
“See? It’s no big deal.”
“B-but I’m a big boy.” Tony’s lower lip was trembling.
“Yeah, and sometimes big boys have accidents too.” Rhodey shrugged it off to help prove his point. He was relieved that Tony just sniffled again and no tears were in his eyes. Cleaning up after an accident was never a fun time (even in a best-case scenario like the one they were in, where there wasn’t actually much cleaning up to do) but it was certainly easier getting it done when Tony wasn’t beside himself about it. “Why didn’t you tell me you needed to go though?” He wasn’t even the slightest bit upset with him for having an accident, but Tony knew that he was supposed to tell someone if he needed to use the potty.
“I wanted to watch the movie,” Tony said like it was the most obvious thing.
“We could’ve paused it.”
“Oh yeah…”
Rhodey rolled his eyes. Something was telling him that Tony was well-aware that they could’ve paused the movie for a potty break, and that he just didn’t want his movie to be interrupted, but he didn’t say anything about it. “Do you need help getting cleaned up?”
“No!” Tony said indignantly. “I’m a big boy.” His voice carried a tone of ‘duhhh’, because of course he was a big boy, Rhodey. Jeeze.
“Oh, of course, my mistake.” Rhodey put his hands up in surrender. He saw that Tony was shifting uncomfortably, and he guessed that Tony was starting to regret begging Steve for those ‘super cool’ pull-ups that turned cold when they were wet. He nudged Tony in the direction of the bathroom. “Go take care of your business then, little man.” Tony ran off to the bathroom, and Rhodey called after him, reminding him to wash his hands when he was done. When he heard the bathroom door close, he sat back down on the couch and found himself thinking back to their days at MIT.
When Rhodey found out that his roommate was going to be Tony Stark, he didn’t think much of it. He knew the name- everybody knew the name Stark- but all he knew about Tony was that he was apparently a genius-child-prodigy, and he was only fifteen years old. He didn’t like to judge people before getting to know them, but he prayed that this Stark kid wasn’t going to be a snob.
As it turned out, the two of them got along pretty well right from the start, and Rhodey found himself bringing Tony under his wing. Sure, he was probably smarter than even some of the professors, but he was the youngest student on campus and Rhodey couldn’t help but see him as a little brother that he needed to look out for. Which would make him the older brother, but like that cool older brother who doesn’t try to stop you from downing a third beer at a frat party, but still provides that voice of reason that reminds you to follow each drink with a cup of water because you have an afternoon class the next day and helps you stagger back to the dorm room. And for that, Tony was eternally grateful.
At the time, Rhodey didn’t know anything about Tony being a little, and he wouldn’t know about it until a few years down the road. No, at the time all he knew was that Tony didn’t care much about ‘personal space’ when sober, and it was a completely foreign concept when he was drunk. Not the Rhodey minded, Tony was kinda small and he didn’t weigh him down to much when he’d insist that Rhodey carry him piggyback-style back to their room after a party, or the way he’d hang himself off Rhodey’s arm when they would walk together. In hindsight, it makes a lot of sense, knowing about Tony being little, because honestly he just thought that Tony had a crush on him (a thought he shared with Tony after learning about his little side. Tony’s response? “Yeah, you wish.”) Tony admitted that, while he wasn’t openly little at the time, he felt safe and comfortable enough with Rhodey that he wasn’t afraid of indulging himself a little bit with physical contact when he could get it.
“Rhodey?”
Rhodey turned to see Tony standing in the hallway coming from the bathroom. “Are you all taken care of?” Tony nodded, but the way he was chewing on his bottom lip told Rhodey that something was up. He patted the spot next to him on the couch, and Tony sat down. “What’s up, kid?”
In an uncharacteristically quiet voice, Tony leaned to Rhodey’s ear and said, “Can you not tell my daddy what happened?”
“Why don’t you want me to tell him?”
Tony shrugged. “Just don’t.” Rhodey raised an eyebrow at the young boy, and Tony sighed. “He said he’s proud of me for bein’ a big boy today.”
Rhodey didn’t feel like getting into the argument that would ensue if he pointed out that Steve wouldn’t be upset about the accident, and the fact that Steve wouldn’t have had Tony in a pull-up in the first place if he hadn’t thought that an accident was a possibility. Instead, he just smiled and put his arm around Tony’s shoulders. “Normally, I think that’s the kinda thing your daddy would want me to tell him about, but I think I can make an exception just this once.” Rhodey winked at Tony, promising that it would stay their little secret, and Tony nuzzled himself into Rhodey’s side, giving him a hug.
“Thank you Rhodey, you’re the best!”
“No problem, kiddo.”