Rhodes, James Rhodes
Tony had already graduated, but he decided he wanted to go back and pick up a few more doctorates. MIT had welcomed him back with open arms. Everyone thought his father had used the family fortune to pay for his education, but he hadn’t. Tony had gotten a full ride scholarship (MIT had made exception to their no scholarship policy) . He never told anyone though… on that note he hadn’t even told anyone who he was, or that he had already been here, not this time around.
Tony was 19, and wanted the real college experience, not the college experience of being a 16 year old in college. He wasn’t going to tell anyone he was Tony Stark. He was going by Tony Collins this time around. This time around he didn’t want special treatment, this time around there would be no private security, and this time around he was going to have fun.
Tony walked down the long hallway to his dorm room, to set up his home for the next year or so. The door was already open when he got there, his roomate must have beat him there. Tony entered the room, and found stacks of boxes. He raised an eyebrow at them. There were quite a few, which told him that told him his roommate was not a light packer. Tony glanced at the large duffel bag on his back and shrugged. He hadn’t brought much. Tony tossed his bag down on the bed on the unoccupied side of the room. He strolled over to the door to see who his mysterious over packing roommate was. James Rhodes. Tony chuckled a little.
“Rhodes. James Rhodes,” Tony couldn’t help saying in a deep gravelly joking tone.
“Ha, Ha, very funny,” Tony jumped and looked up. There was a young black man standing with his arms crossed over his chest, “You know James is a perfectly normal name.”
Tony laughed nervously. He hadn’t meant to be heard.
“Yeah, just making a joke,” Tony raised his hands in guilty omission.
“Mhhmm,” He raised an eyebrow, “You’re just making fun of me because I’m black.”
“WHAT?!” Tony exclaimed, “How was I supposed to even know your were--”
His roommate burst out laughing.
It was Tony’s turn to raise an eyebrow.
“Sorry… You should have seen the look on your face,” James laughed barely regaining his composure, “I just like doing that to people.”
Tony laughed nervously.
“I’m Tony,” He stuck out his hand for James to shake it. James smiled and took it. He had a firm grip.
“Rhodes, James Rhodes,” James smiled cheekily as he said this. This time it was Tony who laughed. He liked this guy.
“Is that all of your stuff? Or is there more in the moving van?” Tony couldn’t help but poke fun at the amount of things his roommate had hauled into the dorm.
“For now, the next truck is on its was,” James winked at Tony. He got the joke.
“I should hope there’s not another truck,” Tony snorted, “Your stuff is already flooding the room.”
“Believe me, this was not my choice,” James said rolling his eyes and picking the small box at his feet, “My mom made me pack most of this stuff. She is always worrying that I will be missing something that I need. Her way of solving that problem is just sending everything with me.”
“I see,” Tony gave his sad lonely bag a quick glance. His parents didn’t even know he was back at school.
"Wait a second... Is that backpack all you brought?" James asked skeptically. It wasn't a small bag, but it was indeed the only thing he had brought.
"Yep, that right there is all I need."
James looked a little doubt.
"Well if you ever need anything else, just ask. I got in here on mainly financial aid, but the bit of money I got is up for sharing."
Tony smiled a little. James thought he didn't have any money, in all fairness it was a fair assumption. Tony didn't actually know if Howard had frozen his bank accounts after he had decided to skip town. Tony smiled a little more. He might have to make a real living instead of mooching off his various bank accounts. The idea exited him.