Chapter 3- Rhodey POV
Rhodey knew that Tony had arrived that day, but hadn’t seen him since he had gone to his room. Worried that his friend would be freaking, out he started up to Tony’s room. Passing a doorway, he heard his name.
“Rhodey?” Natasha called, “You might want to start heading to the meeting room, there’s only 15 minutes before the meeting starts.” She stared at him, probably because he was going in the opposite direction to the meeting room. Even though she had initially fought on their side in the civil war, Rhodey couldn’t help but feel untrusting after she had let the Captain and Bucky get away, resulting in one of his best friend’s more recent near-death experiences, and his own paralysis.
“I was just going to check on Tony. I haven’t seen him since he arrived,” he replied calmly, watching for her reaction. As usual, she didn’t show much emotion except for a softening in her expression.
“How’s he doing?” Natasha asked. Rhodey’s face hardened at that.
“He’s even more fucked up than usual. So, thanks for your hand in that, and goodbye.” He turned away and continued to Tony’s room, not looking back to see how his words had affected Natasha. He sighed, tension moving out of his shoulders slightly. He didn’t mean to sound cruel, but after Siberia, Tony had become even more distant and mistrusting than he already had been- only letting in a few people apart from himself, including Pepper, Bruce, and Peter. Reaching the door, he heard pacing footsteps and ragged breathing. Rhodey knocked.
“Tones, you in there?” he asked, after there was no acknowledgement of the knock. Still no reply. Rhodey pushed open the door to find Tony pacing the length of his room, looking panicked.
“Hey, Tony, you all right?” he spoke, inwardly cursing himself immediately after. Of course he’s not alright, he’s meeting his traitorous friends in a couple of minutes. But Tony had stopped pacing at that, and turned to look at him. Tony looked like he hadn’t slept for days, and considerably older than when Rhodey had departed for Wakanda barely a week ago.
“I-I’m freaking out here, Rhodes. Really fucking freaking out.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “They all hate me, and some want me dead, and I’m meeting them. Why am I doing this? Goddammit, why does the universe have to be in danger now, and not when the Avengers were still together?” Tony rambled, questions directed to no one. He sat down on his bed and put head in his hands. Moving over to the bed, Rhodey sat down beside him.
“Who gives a shit, man. You only have to do this until we save the world or whatever, and then you don’t have to see them again if you don’t want to.” He rubbed Tony’s back in comfort. “Besides, you only have to see them at work, not outside of it or anything. Hell, you could stay at the opposite end of the palace if you asked T’challa.” He smiled as Tony lifted his head and sighed, calming down.
“I am so messed up, Rhodes,” he said, flopping back onto the bed. “So mentally fucked up.”
“Well,” Rhodey said, smiling sadly, “You could always see the therapist Pepper is bugging you about.” Tony stared at him incredulously.
“Platypus, if I got a therapist then they would need a therapist after hearing all my shit.” Rhodey snorted, rolling his eyes.
“Anyway, let’s get this shitty meeting over with then,” he said, standing up and waiting as Tony straightened his suit and put his sunglasses back on. They walked to the meeting room in silence, and Rhodey could practically hear Tony’s heart jumping out of his chest as they approached the room. Arriving at the door, they paused. Tony sighed and pushed open the door, strolling inside. The room went quiet as everyone looked at Tony as he came in and sat down.
“Hi Tony,” Bruce said, breaking the silence and smiling at Tony.
“Hey Brucie-bear, glad to see your doing okay in the calm, stress free,” he lingered on those words, “environment of Wakanda. Everyone in the room was staring during this exchange.
“Tony,” The Captain said hesitantly.
“Rogers” Tony replied looking away. Rhodey looked at everyone in the room. Clint, Wanda, and Scott, were staring daggers at Tony, who avoided their eyes. Sam looked uncertainty around, Vision was analyzing everyone in turn, Natasha kept on glancing at Tony, while Bucky stared intently at the floor as if he had to memorize every detail to survive. Steve was staring at Tony, a mixture of guilt and a little bit of hope present on his face. The men who Rhodey assumed were Dr. Strange and Wong were exchanging glances at each other at the end of the table. Tony was tapping his fingers on the table, and it was the only sound heard in the awkward silence that filled the room. Then, the silence was interrupted when Peter came into the room.
“Uh, hey everyone,” he said awkwardly, obviously torn between wanting to freakout at the fact he was in a room full of superheroes and being loyal to Tony. After a moment of hesitation, he decidedly wandered over to the seat next to Tony and Rhodey.
“Who’s the kid?” asked Steve, confused.
“Uh,” said Peter, rubbing the back of his head. “I’m Peter, and, um, I’m Spiderman.”