Tony Meets Rhodey - Tumblr Posts

Whumptober day 7 - Isolation

My seventh fill for @whumptober2019​, also available on Ao3.

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Taking another sip from his beer, Tony listened to the party raging inside. He knew no one would come looking for him, not unless they wanted something from him.

Despite the amount of people around, he felt utterly and completely alone.

He knew he'd been lucky - being born to the Stark family came with a lot of wealth and privilege, and he had been aware of that from a very young age on. He had opportunities that most others would only ever be able to dream of, even more so because he was white, male, and highly intelligent.

And yet...

There were days he hated it. There were days it was particularly bad and he wished he could have traded it all for one person who would love him. Just one.

His father was disgusted with him, his mother did not know how to handle him, and while he knew Jarvis cared about him, Tony also knew that his job had to come first. And he'd learned very early on that the people who would like to claim to be his 'friends' only did so until they'd gotten what they wanted from him. Whether it was money, or fame...

Tony knew he should feel lucky with everything he had - it was a lot, he was aware. And it felt stupid, almost childish, to want love. If his father heard him think it, Tony knew he wouldn't like Howard's reaction.

But he couldn't help it. Although he was old enough by now that he should have grown out of this kind of infantile dreaming, he'd still hoped that, perhaps, he could find someone at MIT who would care. Someone who would be there for him without him having to pay them for it somehow. Someone who would love him without him having to change himself so much he didn’t even recognize himself. Someone to be himself with, to feel comfortable with, to hug without there being expectations of more.

Bitterly, he took another sip.

Stupid dreams. He was sixteen now, and far too old for this. He wasn’t six anymore, was almost an adult, and the days of talking to his Captain America poster and wishing for a friend of his own should have been in the distant past. But no, here he was, staying away from the party just to look at the stars and feel sad for himself.

No one cared. So what? He’d dealt with it for sixteen years, he’d deal with it for the rest of his life. He should be happy with all the things he did have, all of the advantages life had given him, instead of mourning the one thing he couldn’t have.

His father had been right - he was pathetic.

Just as he raised his beer for another sip, considering perhaps going back inside and finding someone to at least help him feel a little less lonely tonight, there was a voice from behind him. “Hey, aren’t you a bit young to be drinking?”

Turning, he saw an African-American guy perhaps a few years older than he was.

Unbeknownst to him, the falling star above him faded away, its job done.