HERO [ TONY STARK ]

10- DRUNK TONY

"TONY? YOU HERE?"

Raleigh glances up, setting the box of cereal down. She smiles as Tony's good friend James Rhodes comes through the door with a box in his arms. "Hi, James," she says. Of the people she met when she first moved here, she's sure that James is the only one who really liked her.

"Hey, Raleigh. Where's Tony?" James asks, coming inside and placing the box on the counter.

"I- I don't know," Raleigh shrugs, pouring milk into her cereal. "Maybe he's visiting Pepper."

"No, I already stopped by there," James says, shaking his head. "Are you eating... cereal? For dinner?"

Raleigh shrugs. "I like cereal. What do you need Tony for?" She asks as she plops down in a chair and starts eating her cereal.

"Just checking on him," James says, shrugging. Raleigh nods, understanding. She lives with Tony, so she sees how he's been ever since the Battle of New York a year ago. He's barely been sleeping and he's been stressed out more than usual, spending every second in the lab. She finds it strange that he isn't there now. "And dropping these papers off. Just tell him I stopped by, alright?"

"Okay. Bye James," Raleigh waves with her mouth half full and Rhodes laughs a little as he walks out the door.

By ten thirty, Tony still hasn't arrived back home and Raleigh is getting worried. She's checked the lab a few times just to make sure but he wasn't in there.

The house seems so empty without Tony inside. He's usually toying around in the lab downstairs making noise, sometimes playing music, but always making noise. Now it's quiet and Raleigh feels oddly unsettled by it.

An hour later, Tony is still not home. Raleigh showered and mostly just keeps pacing around waiting for him, biting her nails. Her whole body is exhausted yet on edge, heavy with worry.

At times like this, she hates Tony so much. Of course, he doesn't realize that he's causing her this much distress, but still. It couldn't hurt him to call and say he's okay, would it?

Raleigh stands up from her chair so fast when she hears the low rumble of a car pulling up the driveway and sees the headlights shining outside. She sighs deeply, hoping he's not drunk.

Raleigh would go outside and see if he's okay but she doesn't want to come off as too overprotective.

It takes a few moments for Tony to appear at the door, and he seems to have trouble finding the handle, so Raleigh concludes that he is very drunk.

He stumbles inside and closes the door behind him, moving slowly and sluggishly. Raleigh watches with furrowed eyebrows, waiting for him to notice her standing there. However, much to her annoyance, he just turns and walks straight by her. Well, he's kind of wobbling. As he passes by her she can smell the strong scent of alcohol and grimaces.

She sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. What was she thinking when she moved in with him? She must have been crazy.

"J.A.R.V.I.S.?" Raleigh calls out about five minutes after Tony disappeared down the hall.

"Yes, Miss Quill?" The accented voice responds immediately.

"Is Tony okay?" She asks, rubbing her eyes from being so tired.

"He's unconscious down the hall," the A.I. replies. Raleigh sighs and starts off down the hall, heading in the direction where Tony went. He must have been heading to his bedroom, because he's lying unconscious just down the hall from it. He's slumped against the wall, his eyes closed.

Raleigh leans down and grabs one of his arms, pulling it over her shoulder and using every ounce of muscle to pull him up. He lets out a groan as Raleigh wobbles under his weight.

"I know, I know, it's okay," she says quietly as she begins to step towards his room with his arm around her, his feet practically dragging.

She kicks his door open and releases him into a comfy chair in the corner of his room.

"What are you doing?" He mumbles as Raleigh moves over to his bed and pulls back the covers.

"Helping," Raleigh replies. "Why did you drink tonight?" She asks, glancing over at Tony. His eyes are half open and they keep closing and opening a little again. They are bloodshot and red. Raleigh's not sure if that's because of the stress or the sleepiness or because of the drinking.

"What'd you care?" He says rubbing his eyes a little. Raleigh only frowns and walks back over to him, going to grab his arm again to put him to bed but he waves her off and puts his hand over his face. "She... she broke up with me."

Raleigh feels her heart sink. So that's why he got drunk.

She doesn't say anything. Tony sniffs and keeps his hands over his face.

"I'm sure she'll come around," Raleigh says.

"You're sure," Tony repeats bitterly as he stands up from the chair without Raleigh's help. "She said it's just too much."

"Tony–" Raleigh begins, taking a step towards him.

"Ever since New York, things have been different," Tony mumbles as he sits on the side of the bed. "But I didn't realize– I didn't mean to..."

He trails off, covering his face with his hand again. Raleigh swallows hard, looking away. She doesn't want to see Tony sad.

"Why are you even still here?" Tony asks as he takes his hand away from his face. Raleigh furrows her eyebrows. "I'm no good. You need to go."

"What?" Raleigh asks in disbelief. Tony is suddenly on his feet.

"You have to go," he says more urgently this time as he tries to get her out the door. "Go!" He exclaims, frustrated that she won't listen.

"No!" Raleigh says firmly. Tony huffs in frustration before grabbing Raleigh's face in his hands. In that moment, she's so scared he's going to do something violent to her in his intoxicated state, her heart starts beating so fast and her eyes go wide.

When he pushes his lips up against hers, she's wishing that he would have down something violent to her instead. This is much worse.

It's not anything like how she always imagined kissing him would be like. It's rough and urgent and she can taste the beer on his breath. She's always hated beer.

He pulls away from her. Her eyes are so wide and she can't think straight. She's standing stiff as a board, holding her breath. Tony sighs and runs a hand through his hair. Maybe if he wasn't so drunk he would be more aware of her state.

"I'm sorry," he murmurs. He mumbles a few more things before flopping down onto the bed and falling unconscious. Raleigh stands there for a good two minutes, still in a haze over what just happened. By the time she snaps out of it, she's sure she just imagined the kiss and that it didn't actually happen.

She blinks a few times before gingerly pulling Tony's shoes off of him and setting them by the door. She then grabs the small garbage can next to the door and places it next to the bed.

"This carpet is very expensive," she whispers.

Raleigh finds a bottle of water and a small container of Tylenol and places them on the little stand next to Tony's bed. She jots down a little note on a piece of paper and places it right next to the pills.

please don't OD