The Life and Times of Morgan Stark

Flashbulb

A.N. Just showing a little Rhodey love. Also, would you guys be cool if I did some more stuff with younger Morgan, although warning those will probably focus more on her dealing and adapting to Tony's death?

Morgan's P.O.V.

I barged through the bathroom room before ducking into one of the stalls and slamming the door, the reverberations of the metal giving me some sort of satisfaction. I dug through the small handbag that I had brought, trying to find my phone, thought my shaking hands weren't helping me any. Once I got the item in question out, I swiped through contacts, although the tears in my vision were making it hard. I finally got to the contact that I wanted and shakily hit the call button, putting the phone to my ear while taking a shaky breath in and leaning against the stall door.

"Hey Morgs," I heard Rhodey's voice say, "I thought you were at prom?"

"Can you please get me?" I asked, overlapping his question.

I could clearly hear the concern in my uncle's voice when he said, "Yeah. Is everything alright?"

I nodded even though he couldn't see it and sniffled, trying to maintain some kind of composure, "I just want to go home."

"Okay," Rhodey's voice took on a quality that was only present when I was hurt or in some kind of trouble – which, with the whole Ironheart gig had become a common event in my life more or less. "I'll text you when I'm outside of the school okay?"

"Okay," I replied faintly before hanging up and taking a seat on the toilet. I swiped over to where all of my social media apps were, but didn't tap on a single one, knowing that it would make the pain I felt even worse.

I can't believe that I was spending my prom hiding in the bathroom. Isn't that just pathetic?

Notifications began to pop up, both from social media and news outlets. I was a bit surprised that one of the outlets was Fox News, but I'm sure they'll have a field day once they find out how the night really went. I swiped all the notifications away and then set my phone on do not disturb.

The wait for Rhodey seemed to last an eternity but when I got his text, I made my way out of the school as quick as I could, not even bothering to clean up the mascara stained tear tracks that I knew would be present. As I made my way through the gym, I could hear voices speaking my name, some with concern but most were venom laced. I stepped out of the building and was hit with cold air and blinding lights. I kept my eyes down and my made way to where Rhodey's car was parked. More voices called in my wake, though these were different from the ones inside. These voices held no real emotion within them, just a combination of begging and demanding that only the paparazzi could possess.

I practically dived into my uncle's car, once I got to the curb. I immediately latched onto my uncle, grateful for the car's tinted windows.

Rhodey stroked my hair for a few minutes before pulling back and taking my face in his hands, using his thumbs to wipe away the tears that were still falling. "Do you want to tell me what happened?" I shook my head. Rhodey took in a deep breath. "Okay, do you want to go home?" Another head shake. "The diner?" I do nod at this, and Rhodey puts his car in gear before driving away, although it was difficult due to the swarming paparazzi.

After almost an hour we arrived at a diner just on the outskirts of the city, one that Rhodey or Happy would always take me to when I was having a difficult day.

The two of us took a seat in a corner booth away from all the other patrons, though given the time the diner wasn't really packed anyway. Rhodey ordered a large triple chocolate shake for me as well as a cheeseburger with a side of hash browns, as well as an order of fries for himself. We sat in silence until the food arrived.

"So," Rhodey said, "Do you want to tell me what happened."

"Girls fucking suck," I flatly stated, setting the ketchup bottle that I had been using for the hash browns onto the table a little too forcefully.

"So, this has to do with Kayla...What did she do?"

I wiped my eyes roughly, collecting mascara, eyeliner, and eye shadow on my forearm. "Called the paparazzi. Turns out she was more into dating a Stark than a Morgan. Then she started saying how I had been a horrible girlfriend because I didn't buy her everything she talked to me about, and how I didn't one hundred percent fall in love with everything, she liked even though she liked everything that I recommended to her - because I only recommended stuff I knew she'd like, and saying that I didn't have a sense of humor because I didn't laugh at her stupid jokes that made no sense, and not getting that I needed time to recoup - especially when I was constantly traveling between here and Miami so I could see all my family and figure out what I would need to do with SI, and how the only reason I've gotten into the programs I have is because of my dad's name and that I have other people write my application essays. The piece de résistance though, was when she told me that the only reason she even decided to date me was because of the fame that it would bring and to see if I was as big of a slut as my dad was. Which based on what I've seen on my phone she's started to tell people that I was, which isn't true. I also found out when some of her friends came into the bathroom while I was waiting for you that she was planning on putting something into my drink to see if that would finally get me to loosen up."

Rhodey didn't say anything and instead pulled me into his embrace, causing another wave of tears to come forth. Rhodey didn't say anything as his air force t-shirt slowly got saturated with tears, snot, and whatever makeup was still lingering on my face, instead he just stroked my hair and held me close until I was ready to pull away.

It wasn't until I finally pulled away, wiping away whatever tears that were lingering on my face, that Rhodey spoke up. "I know this isn't what you want to hear right now, but I can tell you that Kayla won't be the first of her kind that you'll meet. What I can tell you though is that as you get older it'll get easier to see who's there for you and who's there for your name. I've seen the proof that that will happen." Rhodey tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. "And those people, those will be the people that will stick by you when you're crying in the bathroom. They'll be the ones that will make sure that you still take care of yourself while you're on some three-day binge trying to finish a project that you are working on. While people like Kayla will be just a flashbulb in your life."

"I don't think that I can deal with the pain again," I said, looking up into Rhodey's eyes. "And I don't think anyone would want me by the point that I figure out who's who."

Rhodey set a comforting hand on my shoulder, "Have you ever heard of kintsugi?"

I shook my head, "No, but it sounds like some sort of weird art thing mom would be into."

Rhodey nodded, "You're actually that wrong, it's the art of repairing broken pottery with gold."

"And what does this have to do with me?"

"Because the pottery ends up being even more beautiful and valuable than it was before it was broken. Instead of noticing the breaks and chips themselves, people notice the beautiful gold that is there instead."

"I don't know if you know this Uncle Platypus, but I'm not a piece of pottery."

Rhodey shook his head and chuckled, "I'm trying to be deep, let me have this moment. What I'm trying to say though is yes, you're heart will be broken and maybe a little chipped when you meet the right person, whether that person be a friend or a romantic partner-"

"Or a personal assistant?" I add in.

"Or a personal assistant, they won't see the breaks, they will see the gold the fills in those cracks instead."

I give Rhodey a side hug, "When did you see become a love expert?"

"From watching your mom and dad for enough years. Now eat, that food won't be getting anymore warmer."

"Actually, the milkshake will."

Rhodey ruffled my hair, "You know you're a bit of a pain in the ass."

"So, I've been told, but you love me for it."

"You got me there."

From there the two of us just sat in comfortable silence before going back to the tower when we binge watched some random Netflix show and all thoughts of Kayla left my head, at least for the time being.