Chapter 6
The world was stuck in a constant spin around Tony.
Okay, well, technically, Tony was spinning around in a room, but from his point of view, it was definitely the room spinning, not him.
Deciding he'd had enough of twirling around, he pressed his feet down against the carpeted floor, stopping the rolling chair in it's motions. After blinking a few times to adjust himself, he glanced over the table. Across from him sat Pep and Rhodey, neither looking very amused.
"You know what they should make?" Tony asked, trying to lighten their sour expressions, "Automatic spinney chairs. Think about it. Tired in a meeting? Just the click of a button and you can spin right out of guaranteed boredom." He grinned. He knew he wasn't an inventor, he was a singer, but with his mind always racing, he loved to think of new ideas. Hmm...maybe in another life, but definitely not this one.
"Tony, you got hit with a broomstick, and your eye is still swollen. Making yourself dizzy could make things worse." Pepper tsked, making her disapproval clear.
"Where is he already?" Rhodey chimed in, clearly irritated. That wasn't necessarily new for Rhodey, Tony had seem him get agitated over a bunch of things within their years of knowing each other, but it didn't stop Tony from letting out a soft sigh.
They were all a bit tense, though Tony hid it the best. Obadiah had messaged them all in a group text, demanding there was urgent news to cover. He send them all the address to the board room they were all currently sitting in, waiting. He was supposed to be here fifteen minutes ago, but so far there had been no signs that he was even close.
"He's a busy man." Pepper responded, her voice terse.
Tony knew why they were mad. After the concert last night, Tony and Obadiah had gotten into an argument about socializing with fans. It got loud, like it usually did. The conversation took a heavy drift once Obi had changed the topic from fans to how Tony needed to stop acting as if he were so well liked and arrogant.
Tony should have known better than to say what he had said after that. He had said something along the lines of, "I'm the lead singer, I'll talk to my fans if I want to." In the moment, he had thought it was a fair statement. He was the lead singer, so why wouldn't he talk to his fans? He would be nothing without them, the band wouldn't be where they are now without the support of their fans.
Obi seemed to think it was the wrong thing to say however. Within moments he had reeled his arm back before punching Tony in the face.
Tony remembered exactly how it had felt, as it wasn't the first time this has happened. It had been as though someone had slammed a hammer onto his eye, shoving it back into his skull.
After the first hit, Tony had gone silent, letting Obi rake into him with a his nails. He took every cut with as much dignity as he could. He was Tony Stark. He couldn't just go crying over some scrapes and bruises.
Tony hated it. Hated that sometimes, when Obi didn't wanna "talk" (whenever Obi said "talk" it usually meant "fight") in private, and Pepper and Rhodey would be forced to watch. Sometimes, when things got bad, Pepper would get sick. And it would be all Tony's fault for never being able to keep his mouth shut.
The cracking sound of a door being opened pulled Tony out of his thoughts as Obadiah walked in.
"We need to talk." Was all he started out with, before taking a seat close to Pepper.
"You guys have another gig tomorrow night, for a much bigger crowd." he continued, pulling out his notebook and jotting a few things down.
"I expect makeup on you." he said pointedly towards Tony "you look like shit." He rolled his eyes, as if the way Tony looked was a constant annoyance to his everyday life. It probably was.
Tony just nodded, letting his fingers gently tap against the arm chair to get out his small jitters.
"Potts, I expect a new song to be out by tonight. I would tell Tony to do it, but you get things done." Obadiah said, only pausing a moment to let Pepper give a small nod before moving on to Rhodey.
"And you, you're on thin ice buddy." He glared.
Tony winced at the statement. Rhodey had quickly gotten Obi off of Tony, shoving the man away. Obi had nearly burst into flames of rage, but luckily Pepper had stepped in and averted the conversation.
"I expect the concert to be the best one yet. Don't let me down." he looked over all of them before standing up and walking out.
As soon as the door clicked close behind their manager, Rhodey stood up, fists clenched.
"Why the hell did he say it was urgent? He could have texted us all that. He just wanted to waste our time!" He fumed, beginning to pace the room. He had had plans today, Tony knew. Rhodey always visited his mama on Mondays.
"We all know why he calls us in for these things." Pepper started calmly. She had always been the best at keeping cool, assessing the situation, and taking things for what they were. Tony loved her, and he wouldn't deny those were some of the many reasons he did.
"He just wants to prove he controls us. That's all." she said. Everyone in the room took the words for their truth.
She wasn't wrong, but Tony felt there were more important things to worry about in the moment. Obi wanted a new song released within the next few hours. How was he supposed to manage that? Pepper and Rhodey had mere hours to make the sound, and Tony had hours to come up with some lyrics. Not to add in the fact that the song needed to be good enough to hit the Top Ten Boards. They always did, and the times they didn't (mainly in the very beginning of their band's birth) Obi got mad.
"Let's just go somewhere quiet, and come up with something, alright?" She suggested, standing up and straightening out her outfit.
Rhodey let out a small puff of frustration before he nodded, letting one of his arms sling over Tony's shoulders as they all walked out.
"This isn't working." Tony huffed, falling onto the firm couch. Pepper stood, grinning across from him as she held her bass in her hands.
"It's not working because "Back in Black" is already a song. You can't just keep singing it and expect a new song to just magically appear in your mouth, Tony." she reprimanded.
She may have been onto something, Tony decided as he sat up. For the past half hour, he had been nonstop singing ACDC, which only managed to have Pepper and Rhodey start playing ACDC. While the band was all well and amazing, the songs were already made, and therefore, not helpful to their goal.
"I can't focus in here! Such monotone colors, drains the life right outta me." he said dramatically, falling back over and playing dead on the couch.
"Then let's just go somewhere else." Rhodey sighed, already looking around for one of his keyboards to bring with.
"Where?" Pepper sighed, clearly unsure about the idea. They usually came up with their music in her living room, for lack of a better area. Even now, after they became rich for lack of a better word, they still came up with music in the small, stuffy apartment. It was tradition.
"There's this cafe place." Tony grinned as he perked up. He didn't even bother to try and hide the pure look of mischief on his face as he continued, "We could go there. Someone will end up recording us and then we don't even have to upload the song ourselves for another day or two." He added, knowing it would be enough to convince Rhodey.
Rhodey-Bear hated making music videos. Tony knew it was probably from being pulled and pushed and dressed up and moved around. The weird, awkward poses they had to do something probably didn't help.
Pepper, on the other hand, seemed against the idea.
"Tony, we can't just walk in and start preforming. We could get kicked out..." she started in on the holes in the plan before pausing, her eyes widening in realization of something.
"Are you talking about that cafe with that guy who beat you with a broomstick?! Tony, no!" She huffed.
Rhodey raised an eyebrow. He had heard about the morning's earlier events as they met up at the board meeting.
"No, let's go." He said, a glint in his eye making Tony nervous.
"Wait, Rhodey no." Tony quickly said, trying to take back the suggestion.
"I just wanna talk to him." Rhodey said defensively, raising his hands in a fake surrender motion.
"Rhodey, no, we're not going." Tony urged, following out as Rhodey picked up his keyboard, walking out of the apartment and out of the building. Pepper quickly followed the two, amusement on her face as she called out the address to Rhodey.
"I just wanna talk to him. I just wanna talk to him." Rhodey insisted. "I just wanna kill him. I just wanna talk to him." he said, marching across down in the direction of the small, dinky cafe.
Tony's eyes widened as they got closer. Oh god.
Pepper giggled as Tony put all of his weight into stopping Rhodey from going in the fairly busy cafe. Unfortunately, Tony was like a leaf to Rhodey, and stood absolutely no chance. Rhodey gripped onto the front doors and went in, followed by a nervous looking Tony, and a giggly, excited Pep.
Tony looked up and saw the large brunette who had struck him this morning taking orders from a cute, young looking couple seated near the entrance. Said brunette looked up, his eyes widening.
Tony gave a slight awkward wave, and that was clearly all it took for Rhodey to know he had already found the person. He walked up to the brunette, his friends trailing closely behind him.
Everyone in the cafe was staring at them now, obviously recognizing the band members. Even the tall blonde and the sandy blonde from this morning were staring. The room stayed silent as everyone waited for Rhodey to say something. Coincidentally, Tony ended up being the first one to break the silence. He only had time to squeak out an embarrassed, "I'm so sorry" before Rhodey grabbed the brunette (James, his name tag read) by the front of his shirt and lifted him up just enough to shove him against the table he was serving. The couple yelled out in surprise and took a step back.
"You cracked a broomstick upside Tony's head? Are you nuts?!" He said, letting go. Now that he had thoroughly scared the man, Tony could tell Rhodey was satisfied enough to start ranting. He looked a lot like Mama Rhodes in these moments, absolutely terrifying.
"It was an accident!" Tony shouted out, trying to somewhat defend James as Rhodey began to rant on and on about respect, safety, broomstick thickness and manufacturing, and how to handle situations.
James seemed frozen as he listened to Rhodey, clearly still shocked over being thrown onto a table. Tony gave an apologetic look. Maybe he'd wait a little while before asking if they could play here tonight.