As the Dust Settles

Bedside Manner

5203 words including author notes at the beginning and end.

Possible TW: Near death experiences, canon-typical violence, talk of losing family members

ENDGAME SPOILERS AHEAD, DON'T GET ANGRY THAT YOU IGNORED THE WARNING.
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Tony Stark has been through some shit in his life. Flying a nuke into an inter-dimensional portal comes to mind. Getting kidnapped. Chemical poisoning, shrapnel to the chest. Years of alcohol and drug abuse. Being stabbed by a titan on a planet called Titan. Surviving five years with half of Earth's population.

Anthony Edward Stark lived through all of this and did it while holding up a peace sign.

Well...That might be an exaggeration for some of the last events on that list, but he survived it without turning back to hard drugs or joining a cult, so most would see it as a success.

It made sense that the thing that came closest to ending him was the weight of the entire universe. The power of the infinity stones burned him, boiled his blood inside his veins, but it couldn't come to par with the fury burning in his eyes in those last moments.

Tony Stark saved the world. The galaxy. The universe.

It was more poetic if you weren't there to watch it happen.

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Colonel James Rhodes was a very straightforward man. He had his morals and stuck to them, learned his priorities and chased them with calculated risks. He wasn't one to jump headfirst into fires and expect to march away without any burns.

He had a mostly normal life before he was pulled into the whole War Machine ordeal. Honestly, it was a miracle to at he made it that far in his life without getting directly involved in Tony's messes. Sure, he was the one to help him through Afghanistan, and he was Tony's best friend through their MIT days (which could either be smiled at or a taboo phrase depending on the day or situation that was being brought up), but that's what Rhodey got for being his closest person for so long.

MIT was a mixed bag of tricks. Rhodey and Tony had been roommates then, which meant that James had to deal with Tony's bullshit almost 24/7. Back then, Tony was high off his rocks more often than not, but he was filthy rich and too smart for any school to give up on him.

Life back then wasn't simple, but it was much more so than the present day. The things on those people's minds (back in the eighties and nineties, mind you) could be laughable now. Rhodey was concerned about graduating with good enough grades as to not waste the money his parents paid for his education. Tony was a bag of daddy issues and bad choices, but the two hit it off almost as soon as Rhodey had to assume a sort of Big Brother role for the kid who was definitely too young to be in college.

There were enough incidents involving baggies of spiked marijuana and having to drag Tony's bloody ass back to their dorm because he tried to fight an upperclassman that it was a miracle that Rhodey grew fond of the kid. Maybe it was those catastrophic (used ironically due to recent events, of course) moments that made their friendship grow so strong.

Nostalgia wasn't always happy, and the same went for those memories. The people back then are nearly unrecognizable now. An odd concept, as well as an easy one to lose yourself in when you have hours of free time on your hands.

Rhodey didn't blame Tony for the paralysis in his legs. He didn't even blame Vision, for that matter (he wasn't exactly fond of the guy, but he couldn't hate him). He knew it was an accident, and though Tony was the only one who apologized, Rhodey had forgiven everyone involved the moment he was coherent enough to.