A Flash From The Past ~ An Avengers Reacts Story

Eight ~ Tony

"Ok," Hayden said once the Avengers were all gathered back in the theater room. "This memory is a little sensitive, so we wanted to warm you all."

A few of them frowned as the screen began to light up. It started with Tony, who looked the same age as the memory before. He was in what seemed to be a college room.

"Uh," Off screen Tony suddenly jumped up and shouted at the screen. "Yeah, I know I told you to stop the memory before, but they really don't want to see this."

"Why?" Natasha asked.

"I- uh-" Tony stammered, "It's not important. Ha ha."

Natasha frowned, not convinced the memory was as unimportant as Tony made it out to be.

On screen Tony looked exhausted, and had been obviously crying, and seemed to be thinking of something. After a few seconds, his face lit up with determination, and he got up from the floor that he was sitting on.

"Hey, Nat," Clint leaned close to Natasha and whispered to her. "You don't think… you know."

"I really hope not," Natasha whispered back, but both of them were pretty sure they both knew what they were about to watch.

He slowly made his way to one of the two cabinets in the room and pulled out a package. He took a deep breath and opened it, revealing a long silver knife.

A gasp rippled through everyone watching, and Tony hid his face in his hands. Natasha and Clint knew their suspicions were true. Steve was confused at why he was feeling like this. He had never imagined Tony could be going through so much at such a young age. Loki looked at Tony, an understanding look passing over his face, but he quickly got rid of it as soon as he realised someone might notice.

On the screen, Tony slowly putted the blade near his wrist and took another deep breath while a lone tear made its way on his cheek. He quickly slashed the blade on his skin and the sharp metal did its job.

As soon as he did that, a knock was heard on the door.

"Tony?" The muffled voice belonging to James Rhodes called.

"Thank god someone is coming to help him," Natasha said to Clint, who nodded in agreement.

All Steve could think was, 'What if Rhodey hadn't shown up? Where would Tony be now?'

"My class got canceled" Rhodey sas, his voice still muffled by the door

"I-Im busy, go a-away" Tony stuttered, panicked. ,"P-please"

"Look," Said Tony, "Please turn this off. They don't need to watch it."

"Stark, shut up," Natasha snapped, "I'm sorry, but I need to see this."

"Tony?" Rhodey hesitated, realizing what was going on. "TONY! OPEN THE DOOR RIGHT NOW!"

By this point, tears were running freely down Tony's face. A loud noise was heard a few times when Rhodey finally managed to break the door down. He immediately took the knife away from Tony, before pulling him into a tight hug. Tony immediately started to sob into his shoulder, and tears also stained Rhodey's eyes.

"Oh, thank god," Steve sighed, while the others just watched on, sadness in their eyes.

After Tony had calmed down, he pulled away from Rhodey.

"'M sorry," Tony said, sniffling.

"It's okay, Tones," Rhodey replied, ruffling Tony's hair playfully. "I will have to supervise you for a while though."

"That's okay," Tony gave him a small smile "I promise I'll try to get better."

"And I promise that I will try to help you," Rhodey told him as the memory faded.

"Tony," Natasha said, "I'm sorry you felt like you had to do that."

"Yeah, well, I don't anymore," Tony said, then muttered, "Well, not much."

Natasha heard him, and frowned, but decided to brush it off as all avengers discussed their concern and sympathy for Tony.

"Guys," Hayden said, "I know you are all having a sentimental moment, but we gotta move to the next memory." The screen then began to light up.

On screen Tony seemed the same age as the memory before, maybe a few months after the attempt. He was in the dorm, drawing a blueprint for what seems to be a robot.

Dark bags could be seen clearly under his eyes and he yawned every so often. His hands were shaking when he grabbed a cup of coffee to take a sip.

"Why is he so tired?" Steve said off screen.

"Well, it's probably because he isn't sleeping," Loki explained.

"Jesus Christ," Clint said, "I forgot you were here." Others agreed with him.

"That's because I'm sitting in the corner of a dark room, not moving and hardly speaking," Loki told him. "I'm quite enjoying it actually."

Back on screen, a loud knock was heard on the door, and Tony, startled by it, managed to say a weak, "Come in, Rhodey."

As soon as Rhodey opened the door he ran up to Tony and said, "Shit, Tony. Didn't I tell you to get some sleep? Did you eat anything?"

Tony frowned, "Yeah, I know, let me just finish this and then-"

"That's the same thing you said two days ago!" Rhodey scolded him before making a decision, "You are going to sleep now, but you need to eat something first."

"Okay, 'mom'," Tony joked before getting up and grabbing a plate with a slice of pizza.

"You need to eat real food, Tony!" Rhodey said, exasperated. "I'll grab something."

"You know what," Clint said, "I just realized, have you ever seen Tony eat anything other than random take out food?"

"Yeah," Steve said.

Back on screen, Rhodey left the room and after the memory skipped some time to when he came back with a plate of pasta and tomato sauce. Tony took the plate and ate quietly while Rhodey told him about his day. When he finally finished, he laid down in the small dorm bed and immediately went to sleep. The screen slowly turned to black.

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AN

Hey guys! Lulusurfista here!

I hope you liked this emotionally draining chapter!

I absolutely loved to write the dynamic between Tony and Rhodey

Hi, RedCorvette084 here x

I really hope you enjoy this chapter as much as we love writing it x

I've just posted the first chapter while I'm writing this A/N, so this will be out soon lol

See you in the next chapter x