Superfamily One Shots

Dark Secrets

**Halloween chapter 4 which means... We're almost there! The next Halloween chapter will be the Spooktacular monster chapter, which totaled out at just over 11,000 words when I finally finished my last edits and everything! Last hint: Peter's apartment in the story is horribly cold, and his roommate Wade likes it that way. Any particular reason why? Who knows! Anyways, this one was pretty fun, too, it's staring Rhodey and Tony at college as roommates. Enjoy!**

Rhodey carefully shut the door room door, hoping to keep the sound to a minimum. Tony was a bear to wake up no matter the time, but early mornings were especially bad. Rhodey held his breath for a moment, but when Tony rolled back over and buried himself in the covers without much of a protest, he relaxed. All clear.

Rhodey set down a little to-go carton of pancakes and eggs from the diner he'd started working at on Tony's dresser for when Tony got up later, then Rhodey striped down to his boxers and collapsed into his own bed.

"Good morning, Cambridge, it's time to get some sleep," Rhodey mumbled as he drifted off, his words slurred by the pillow pressed against his cheek. "Let's go to the weather."

"Cold," Tony mumbled. Rhodey smiled to himself, having forgotten that Tony responded to sentences even when he was asleep. "It's cold."

"It's October," Rhodey slurred in response. "Of course it's cold."

"New school year," Tony started. After a moment, he continued. "It's cold in school."

Rhodey laughed and finally drifted off.

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When Rhodey got back up, it was starting to get dark outside. He must have slept at least 9 hours, which was a little excessive for him, but he couldn't deny it felt nice. The young man stretched and looked over at-

Tony was still in bed. That was pretty unusual. It wasn't like he had a normal cycadean rhythm, but even when he did get some sleep, the poor boy never slept longer than 6 hours, and never during the day.

"Tony?" Rhodey kicked off his blankets and stumbled over to Tony, grabbing his shirt off the floor as he did. He pulled the shirt over his head, then shook Tony's shoulder lightly. "Tony?"

Tony's body fell backwards, his pale face shining up at Rhodey. Dark lashes barely fluttered against the bright red of his cheeks. Rhodey put a hand to Tony's forehead and felt the sticky, hot sweat of a fever. It was strange actually. It felt like he was running over a hundred degrees, but besides the bright red flush on Tony's cheeks, his skin was pale. Too pale.

"Tony? You have to wake up, kid, you're burning up." Rhodey had pretty much been Tony's family since they got to college. He was so young, Rhodey would have never forgiven himself if something had happened to him. When Tony didn't move, Rhodey pulled the blankets back and lifted the poor kid out of bed. "Come on. We're going to the school health center."

The trek across campus was slow going. Rhodey may have had 4 years on Tony, but he wasn't a body builder, and the kid was surprisingly heavy for being so small. Rhodey barely got any rest, though, as a nurse at the health center took one look at Tony and told Rhodey to take him back to the dorms with a dose of Tylenol.

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Tony woke up a few hours later, his head pounding and his throat scratching. He blinked a few times, but it was so damn bright.

"Hey, Tones, you with me?"

Rhodey's voice was so loud. Tony pushed a hand over his eyes and brought a finger to his lips like he was shushing the older boy. Rhodey just laughed and turned down the lights.

"What time is it?" Tony rasped.

"Nearly 7am. You've been asleep since I got home yesterday. I took tonight off so I could watch you."

Tony hummed. He knew this would happen if he didn't eat, but it wasn't like he had a spare moment to catch a meal between classes or before Rhodey got home.

"Can... Can you go to the store for me?" Tony asked, his voice still raw and catching in his throat.

Rhodey laughed. "I've got about 30 cans of soup and several bottles of Tylenol already, I don't think you need anything else."

Tony shook his head slightly. He needed it now. "I need meat."

"Protein, yeah. You have chicken soup here."

Tony shook his head again, a panic starting to fill his stomach. He knew he had to come clean. If he kept going on this way - if he didn't eat - he'd die. He wouldn't make it much longer without blood.

"I need raw meat. Unless you're going to offer up some blood, that is," Tony flashed Rhodey a smile, hoping to play off his little confession as a joke, but Rhodey was glaring at him with too much knowing.

"We're going to talk," Rhodey said, standing up and throwing on a jacket. "We're going to talk as soon as I get you some disgusting beef flank, okay?"

Tony fell back against the pillows and watched as Rhodey headed out of the dorm rooms. He didn't have to wait long. Tony stumbled out of bed and pulled on some clean clothes before he got back in bed. He was too weak to do much else.

"I'm back," Rhodey called as he came through the door. "I got raw ribs and beef flank, like I prommised, and I grabbed some other shit, too. You'd better come talk to me, though."

Tony was waiting, a small smile on his lips. He was sitting up in bed, still looking like a corpse, but excited. Like he couldn't wait to get his teeth in the meat Rhodey had brought home. "Ribs, please!"

Rhodey passed them over and watched with disgusted fascination as Tony ripped open the packaging, broke a rib in half, and suck on the- on the- on the blood and marrow. "You're going to make yourself sick."

Tony shook his head, but he still looked embarrassed. He didn't have a lot of options now. He knew Rhodey had questions. He knew there was only one answer. "'M not."

"Are you going to tell me what the hell is going on?"

Tony took a breath and looked up at Rhodey, his dark, chocolate eyes searching Rhodey's for any sign of anger or fear. "Rhodey, I... I'm a vamp. I drink blood regularly. I need to or else... I get sick, like this. Sleep myself into a coma pretty much."

Rhodey nodded his head and worried his bottom lip thoughtfully. Tony waited for the explosive anger, the fear. It was a moment before Rhodey just nodded, uncertain but trusting. "Okay."

"Okay?"

"Always okay, Tones. I got you," Rhodey said, pulling Tony into a hug. "Always."

Tony let himself sag into Rhodey's shoulder and pulled him close. "Thank you."

"Always," Rhodey repeated. Then, after a minute or two, "can you try not to get blood on my favorite coat, though?"