Work Text:
Tony’s head lifted as he heard the door to his lab open behind him. He’d specifically told Pepper he didn’t want to be disturbed, had actually snapped at her that she’d be fired if he was. She hadn’t deserved that. He’d have to remember to make sure she bought herself something with his credit card as an apology. Whatever she had shown up for, though, it had to be important enough for her to put his instructions aside. Even if he didn’t agree, he knew he’d do whatever she asked. It was the least he owed her.
“Hey.”
That was not Pepper.
Tony whipped around, wide eyed, to see Rhodey standing just inside the doorway. He looked worried, the corners of his mouth pulled down and his eyebrows pinched toward each other. Tony switched off his welding torch and set it aside, pushing his goggles up off of his face as he did.
“What are you doing here?”
It came out more brittle than he’d have liked, but he was surprised, okay? After the way Rhodey had stormed out last time, he hadn’t been expecting to see him again for a while, certainly not a mere four days later. True, he’d called several times the day before, but Tony hadn’t even managed to get up the courage to listen to the voicemails yet. He was still too raw, too tender. The broken pieces of his heart already felt like he’d never be able to fit them back together.
“You weren’t answering my calls,” Rhodey said by way of explanation, giving a helpless little shrug. “I didn’t know what else to do.” He ran a hand over his close-shaven scalp. “Listen, I talked to Pepper. I… Why didn’t you tell me about Ty? I wouldn’t have- I wouldn’t have reacted so poorly. I’m sorry.”
Tony hunched in on himself, his shoulders bowing under Rhodey’s guilty gaze.
“I don’t know,” he admitted, feeling small and young in a way he hadn’t in years. Not since his pre-Rhodey days. “You were just already so mad and I… I was afraid.”
He couldn’t look Rhodey in the face to see his reaction, but he watched as Rhodey’s feet crossed the space between them. Strong, familiar arms wrapped around him.
“Hey, I love you, you know that?”
Tony wished he could believe those words, but the damage had already been done. It wouldn’t be fixed so easily.