Tony Stark-⎊-Oneshots

Grief

Rhodey didn't know anything until his team decided to do a moment of silence during a training exercise. When he was told the news, he almost collapsed to his knees. He immediately scheduled flight home.

He spent the whole ride calling Tony's phone, but the genius phone went straight to voicemail, adding to his panic.

His heart was already pounding but it just about stopped when he walked into a dark Avengers compound with no sign of Jarvis. Walking further inside, he heard the dull sound of voices. He followed the sound to the television in the common room.

"The Avengers team have been killed in a bombing in New York City. The team was in the middle of a mission when a large bomb went off, collapsing the building and killing the Avengers inside. They are currently working to recover the bodies-"

Rhodey jumped as a glass bottle went crashing into the screen. He turned and squinted into the darkness, a hand creeping towards the gun on his hip.

"Who's there?"

"They're all dead," a voice croaked. "They're all dead." The voice cracked and large sobs lit up the room.

Rhodey's breath caught as he walked towards the voice. "Tony?"

He got a sniff in response, but as he walked further into the room, he saw a figure curled up on the ground and was able to recognize the unkempt black hair. Rhodey let out a relieved breath and kneeled, pulling the genius into his arms. "I'm so happy to see you, Tones," Rhodey whispered, a few relieved tears escaping.

"They're all dead," Tony rasped again, limp against his best friend. "They're all dead."

Rhodey pulled back and finally noticed Tony's glazed eyes and a blank face. "Tony?"

"They're all dead," Tony wheezed again.

Rhodey took in Tony's sweaty hair, heavy breathing, and clammy skin. He quickly moved to turn on the light.

Rhodey grabbed the shocked man's face into his hands and tried to catch his eye. "Tones, I need you to calm down for me, take some deep breaths."

Tony responded to his words by vomiting. Tony coughed and wheezed in between heaving, Rhodey supporting the man so that he didn't fall face-first into the pile of sick. "Get it all out, Tones, you're okay. I'm right here."

Tony heaved for several minutes until there was nothing but stomach acid. "You feeling okay Tones?" Rhodey asked softly when the room erupted into quiet.

Finally, Tony's gaze locked onto his. "Rhodey," he said brokenly. "W-What am I g-going to do? They're all g-g-g-gone." Rhodey swallowed thickly at Tony's vulnerable expression.

"I-I don't know, Tones," he said gently, "But whatever you do, I'll be right here at your side okay?"

Tony's face melted and he threw himself at Rhodey, burying his face into his best friend's neck. Rhodey couldn't even care that Tony was getting vomit all over his new shirt- his best friend was hurting so bad, and he didn't know what to do to help.

The first thing he decided he needed to do was to get them cleaned up.

Tony was exhausted after he spent an hour sobbing into Rhodey's neck, so the black man had to practically carry him to the bathroom. He sat the now mute man onto the closed toilet seat and pulled away from his clothes. Being Tony's roommate at MIT meant he had seen the genius naked plenty of times and it no longer phased him.

It was hard trying to wash them both in the shower with Tony clinging to him like a koala, but he got it done while whispering as many comforting words into Tony's ear as he could.

It didn't take him long to convince Tony to go to sleep, the man simply was done with the day and ready to end it.

When Tony's breathing got deep, Rhodey snuck out the bedroom to call Nick Fury. "Is it true?" He started.

"You saw the news, Colonel," the one-eyed man said flatly.

"But is it true?" Rhodey said between a clenched jaw. Fury loved to play games but now was not the time.

"You are not at the clearance level to know anything else-"

"Bullshit!" Rhodey shouted into the phone. "My best friend is going out of his mind with grief and I need to know-" Rhodey paused as he heard a weird sound coming from the bedroom.

"Colonel?" Fury asked cautiously. Rhodey listened, and upon hearing the noise again, he ran into the bedroom.

Upon seeing the sight inside, he dropped the phone in the doorway.

Rhodey ran over to the side of the bed, throwing himself to the floor, and shoved his fingers into Tony's foaming mouth. He tried to scoop out as many pills as he could before pumping on Tony's stomach. After four tries, two handfuls of pills came tumbling out of the genius' mouth and onto the floor. "Tony, why?" Rhodey said, tears clouding his vision.

"I c-can't do it alone, I c-can't," Tony sobbed, laying limp against the side of the bed and breathing heavily.

Rhodey crawled over to where his phone was to call an ambulance before hearing Nick's voice. "Colonel? Colonel? What's happening?"

"He overdosed," Rhodey said brokenly into the phone. He looked over at where Tony was slumped, pale face, with slightly blue lips.

Nick was quiet for several long seconds. "Medical personnel are on their way to you," he said quietly.

Rhodey let out another sob before hanging up the phone. He crawled back over to Tony and held the man in his arms, praying and pleading for him to be okay.

Just as Fury said, paramedics, flooded the room only minutes later. They hooked Tony up to a bunch of machines, the genius now unconscious, before whisking him off to the hospital.

Rhodey sat, dazed, in the middle of the room, before his phone started ringing again. He answered it numbly.

"Colonel, I...have something to tell you," the director said, uncharacteristically nervous.

Rhodey, too emotionally drained, did not respond.

"The Avengers are okay. I sent them on an undercover mission and the public needed to think-"

"What. The. Fuck," Rhodey snarled.

"It was necessary-"

"Necessary my ass. My best friend just overdosed because he thought his teammates were dead. Why didn't you tell Tony about this 'undercover mission'?"

Fury sighed heavily. "I didn't tell Stark because...well you know how he is-" Fury paused, knowing immediately this was the wrong thing to say.

"Fuck you. Fuck all of you," Rhodey snarled. "You better not step foot near Tony or I'll put you on an 'undercover mission'."