Meet Uncle Rhodey
“So a dog is not a good gift, right?” Rhodey, plopped down on the sofa next to his friend with a smirk. It wasn’t often that he got to actually visit his best friend since college, but the two of them made it work. And he’d admittedly been trying to schedule most of his visits the past couple years around the time that Tommy would be home. Tony was starting to catch on to that, clearly finding it suspicious, but it really wasn’t for any other reason than whole heartedly enjoying seeing the two of them together.
Seeing Tony with a kid was not something he ever thought he would see. If someone had said to him even a few months before finding out about Tommy that Tony Stark was going to be an active father one day, Rhodey would have laughed in their face.
But man, was it the most incredible thing he ever saw.
Sure, he gave Tony a hard time. Purposely said thing to drive him crazy (even if some of them were true). He was pretty sure that was well within his rights as best friend. Especially after all the shit Tony put him through in college. But if anyone tried to say Tony was anything less than an amazing father to Tommy, Rhodey would be ready to take everything he learned in the Air Force and fight them.
He’d already had a few stern words with Tony’s CFO behind his back, making it clear his comments about Tony’s fatherhood were incredibly inappropriate.
”You buy my kid a dog, and I’ll be banning you from all future birthdays, graduations, and any other events you may have once felt welcome to attend,” Tony retorted, but Rhodey didn’t miss the smirk hidden behind his glass as he took a sip of his ice water.
Seeing him drink water was worthy of a celebration in itself.
”When did you become the party pooper?” Rhodes pouted, kicking his feet up on the coffee table, knowing full well it would annoy the hell out of Tony.
“Honey bear, I swear to god, you’re about to get your JARVIS privileges revoked.”
”You love me,” he shrugged, but put his feet back down on the floor so he could reach for his own glass of water.
Normally, it’d be a beer, but he refused to drink around Tony while he was trying so hard to stay sober for his son.
“He’s really into dinosaurs right now. Get him some dinosaurs, he’ll love it.”
”Like you haven’t already gotten him every dinosaur toy possible.” He scoffed. “I bet if I walk into his room right now, his dresser is covered.”
”So? He won’t care. He’ll still love it,” Tony shrugged. “Or you could take him to the aquarium. He also loves fish. Especially, Octopus. Don’t ask me why, I think they’re weird as hell. But he thinks they’re cool.”
Rhodey let out a loud laugh at that, but nodded. “Aquarium tickets for me and the little guy and a puppy. Sounds good.”
The sound of pattering feet put an end to the conversation, and then a small toddler was barreling into the front room, nearly tripping over his own feet several times on the way with his mom right behind him warning him to slow down before he hurt himself.
It was the way Tony’s face lit up the second that kid collided with him that was exactly the reason Rhodey carefully chose when he came to visit. He could count on one hand the number of things that truly filled Tony with joy. Seeing him like this was refreshing. It was more than refreshing - it was a gift.
———
“Tony, you wanna tell me what the hell that was about?”
”Not really.”
”Tony.”
Tony stopped walking, crossing his arms against his chest as he leveled Rhodey with a glare. “I really don’t know what you want me to say here.”
”I want you to maybe not take anything out on the kid’s aunt. We both know she doesn’t deserve that.”
”Do we? Did you hear what she - ” Tony shot back, his voice an octave higher, and completely defensive. But as soon his eyes connected with Rhodey’s glare, he shut up, and his shouldered sagged. “I know.” He sighed, and dragged both his hands down his face as he leaned against the wall.
Rhodey sighed too and placed his palm on his friend’s shoulder. ”I didn’t hear anything before you snapping at her, but I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say you tried to tell them about Tommy and it didn’t go so well.”
“Yeah. You could say that.”