Chapter Text
The elevator to the penthouse slides open as Grace hangs up the phone and dials the same number again, lifting it up to his ear with shaking hands.
“C’mon, c’mon…” – Grace gasps, still out of breath after rushing all the way to the tower, completing his almost 50-minute bike ride in just under 35 minutes. His heart pounds in his chest as he throws his keys on the counter and haphazardly makes his way further inside.
“Leave a message, you know who I-"– He hangs up the phone. Voicemail. Again. Grace’s grip on the phone tightens, hitting the call button again and shuffling out of his yellow raincoat. Not bothering to pick it up from its heap on the floor, Ryland stumbles his way to the living room couch, collapsing onto it and sliding his beanie off at the same time. The phone rings endlessly against Grace’s ear and he lets out a sigh, dragging his left hand across his face. He’s lost count of how many times he’s called since dismissing his last class and every time the only voice that answers is the recorded message. – "Please…" - he begs, slipping his glasses off so they hang off one ear, - “Answer me, Tony.”
F.R.I.D.A.Y. had automatically turned on the news on the TV when he entered the living room, and now it played in the background as the call went to voicemail once again. Grace inhales sharply, – “Leave a message; you know who I am."– breath hitching as the recorded message comes to an end.
“Hey Tony,” – Grace starts after the beep – “you told me you’d call back earlier so… um…” – He takes in another shaky breath, still trying to calm his racing heart – “…yeah, just. Please call me, and let me know where you are, that you’re safe… uh, just- just please call me back, Tony.”
Ending the message, Grace tunes back in, rushing to fix his crooked glasses, as the audio from the TV comes back into focus. His heart sinks – “no...” – the news anchor’s words fade into the background once more as Grace sees Iron Man flying into the weird, ring-shaped spaceship that had parked itself in the middle of Greenwich Village, followed by footage of the ship taking off and leaving the atmosphere.
What.
“Crap” – Grace fumbles for his phone, vision blurring as his eyes fill with tears. He opens the phone app, dialing Tony’s number for what feels like the billionth time in the last hour. The phones rings and rings and rings, and for twenty-five agonizing seconds, Grace hopes that maybe this time someone on the other side of the line will pick up. With no such luck, Ryland steels himself, taking a deep breath, he waits for the beep–
“Tony,” – he exhales, voice shaking – “please tell me you’re not on that spaceship. There’s no reason for you to be on that spaceship. So, call me. Ok, Tony? Call me.” – Throwing his phone on the couch, Grace puts his head in his hands, no longer able to stop his tears from falling. This can’t be happening, there’s no way this is happening, because in what world would Tony think that just leaving Earth without saying anything was even remotely okay?!
And don’t look at Grace like that; him being shot into space was not his fault, thank you very much.
He couldn’t have F.R.I.D.A.Y. send him a little message or something? Anything?
The news on the TV droned on, the ship was long gone by now, and judging by the few words he was able to make out, a couple other heroes were seen entering the ship as well, but he wasn’t really paying much attention anymore. Tony was gone. Not gone-gone, oh god, he hopes he’s not gone-gone. Please let him not be gone-gone but gone to space. Space! With no way for Ryland to follow and maybe even no way back. He could die out there, and he’d just… never come back, there wouldn’t even be a body to burry. – “at least he’s not alone” – Grace thinks. At least there’s a couple other heroes out there with him, whoever they may be. F.R.I.D.A.Y. had turned off the TV once she realized it was causing more harm than good, he’d just check in later anyway. All he could focus on right now was Tony being gone.
Why did it have to be space? Is outer space destined to separate Grace from anyone he’d ever love? Keeping them farther away than he could ever reach? Grace wished Rocky was here, he’d know what to do, “Rocky fix” and whatnot. Rocky’s so smart. Man, how he misses Rocky, even him just being here would help, even if he couldn’t do anything about the situation. He hopes he’s doing well on Erid; everything was good when Thor Bifrost-ed Grace and the Hail Mary back to Earth after dropping Rocky off and making sure the Taumoeba was on its way to Threeworld. It’s been just a few years, and Grace already misses Rocky so, so much.
Grace has only been back on Earth for six years, half of them spent on getting the Taumoeba to Venus, making sure the sun was returning to normal, and all that jazz. Just recently had he managed to return to teaching, it took a lot of convincing to get the People in Charge TM to let him give class at a high school. Grace thinks they owed him that much, really. Point is, he and Tony haven't even gotten that much time to explore this thing they’ve got going on. This rekindled flame that was maybe never really put out all those years ago.
He’s getting off track, there’s probably no one who can even do anything about the situation anyway. Except maybe, like, Thor, who’s off-world somewhere. Guess you can’t always count on the Bifrost to solve all your space-related problems.
Grace sits, head down, on the couch for—he doesn’t even know how long—but when he looks up at the window, he sees the already setting sun disappear past the horizon.
So.
“What now?” – he asks himself. Grace lets his hands fall from his face and sits back on the couch, looking at the ceiling. There’s not much he can do really, but he’s just been sitting here, freaking out about what he can’t do, maybe it’s time to think about what he can. With newfound motivation, Grace stands up from the couch and grabs his discarded phone. It’s time to make a few calls.