During Iron Man 2

Tony Stark was many things, but most important to you over anything else, he was your idiot best friend who had suddenly decided that it was his greatest idea ever to go on a self-destructive fuck-it spree that now left you standing alone, watching him dive in even deeper. The verbal berating that you had given him for the race car fiasco in Monaco seemed to have slowed the man down at first, but being here now, listening to him pee in his suit with a lopsided and inebriated smile on his face, you knew that your words had gone in one ear and out the other. What you didn't know was why he was so blatantly falling apart, and on such a public stage.

"Hey, (Y/N), what's the matter?"

"I don't know what to do," you whined to Rhodey as he approached, your eyes never leaving your friend. "I don't know what's happening to him."

Standing at your side, Rhodey was as still and as helpless as you were feeling in that moment, the two of you watching Tony fully clad in one of his suits while flailing and failing to entertain the crowd at his birthday party in his Malibu mansion. "You've got to be kidding me. I'm gonna put a stop to this-"

"No, Rhodey, wait. Maybe I can think of something," you grabbed his arm to stop him, "let me give it a try. Just hold on, and hope that it works."

"Fine, one try," he pointed at you sharply, "and then I'm shutting this down."

With an uneasy breath that meant to calm you but only exacerbated your nerves, you nodded hastily hurried across the room. Tony was watching you as you came closer, and the exuberance of his tone faded away just as quickly as your feet were moving towards him. "Here's my favorite girl in the world!" he announced to the crowd, but there was no joy in his tone. "Uh oh, she looks maaaaad. Bad Tony's about to get a spanking, guys, and not the happy birthday kind! At least I hope not..."

"Aw, that's almost sweet," you answered with a forced smile, taking the microphone from his hand, "but I think it's time to say goodnight, and thank you to everyone for coming out tonight-"

"No, no, no," Tony mumbled, leaning in closer, puckering his lips, "come on, I haven't had my birthday smooch yet. Wouldn't this be a great first kiss?"

You lowered the microphone to your side, your open hand raised up to push him back, but not enough to topple his wobbly balance. "You're not getting one from me."

"Pleeeease."

"Tony, it's time to stop."

"You're such a party pooper, (Y/N)," he snapped, leaning away with a snarl and turning back to the crowd. "The party may be over, but the afterparty is just getting started!"

"Tony!" came a shout from a random guest that left him all but ignoring that you were even there. "Tony over here!"

"That's my name, sweetheart! I'd love to hear you wear it out!"

You rolled your eyes at the insinuation and crassness from your friend, turning back to Rhodey, who's expression was hard and completely unamused. Some vapid blond wearing a dress tighter than plastic wrap scurried her way to the front of the group, suggestively holding a champagne bottle with a wink to Tony before tossing it in the air. His hand came up with reflexes so fast that you wondered if it were more Jarvis than Tony, blasting the in mid-air, spraying the expensive alcohol and darkened glass everywhere.

"Tony, what the hell?!"

"Live a little, (Y/N)!"

The excitement didn't die down as you had hoped; instead, it grew beyond any control you might have tried to gain, and now that very same blonde was holding up a watermelon that looked like it weighed more than she did. If the surroundings weren't so problematic, you might have laughed at her struggle to move with it, but instead, you groaned to yourself at the absurdity of it all.

"I think she wants the Gallagher!" Tony raised his hand to cue her to toss it up, but you hurried forward into his way, ripping the melon from her hands and easily crushing it between your own, its contents splattering and spilling around you.

"Party's over!" you barked loudly. "Get out!"

Tony's eyes were wide and alight with both shock and amazement, but his insides were churning with confusion; his brain was too murky and jumbled to put it all together. He had known you for years; you had been one of his closest friends, maybe even closer than Rhodey, and he had no idea at all that you could do something like that. He felt like he was staring at someone that he had never known. "(Y/N), what the hell...how did you...holy fuck."

"Are we done?" you hissed, avoiding his obvious need to know more. "Tony?"

"(Y/N), what the hell was that?" he insisted, taking a step forward. "I can't believe you hid this from me! We tell each other everything!"

"Obviously we don't!" you argued in return, your voice escalating as his was. "Whatever is going on with you is a mystery to me! So please, let's drop this double-standard and tell me what's happening!"

"I told you not to worry about it! Why can't you just back off?"

"Because I'm your friend! Or I sure as hell thought I was!"

The rise in emotion and decibel must have been playing with your mind, because when he took a longer stride forward with his hand raised to make a further point, you misconstrued it as aggressive and reached out to grab it in response, your grip halting him in place. But not only did your grip stop him, it began to crush the metal of his gauntlet around his hand, making him gasp in surprise and wince in the start of pain. When you realized what you were doing, you let go immediately and took steps back; you could have turned to run, but the last step back before you could have tried bumped you right into Rhodey, now also clad in one of the suits.

"(Y/N)," he said softly, "please, don't move."

"James, stay out of this."

"You know I can't."

"We don't have to make this into a thing, okay?" you pleaded with him. "I never wanted either of you to find out. I never use that side of myself, I swear. You know me, I'm not a threat."

"I know that, honey," Rhodey assured you softly, "but I'm not standing here because of you. I'm gonna need you to get behind me."

Your gaze shot quickly to Tony, who was still standing steady, but now his undamaged hand was raised at the two of you; he was preparing himself to fight his two best friends, and in the haze of alcohol he saw nothing more than a roadblock that he was determined to break down.

"Tony, this doesn't have to end in a fight," you tried, taking a step forward only to have Rhodes stop you again, the unforgiving metal of his own gauntlet digging into your skin as he held you. "Let's just talk about this."

"Let's talk about you getting out of my suit, pal," he answered, acting as if you weren't even there, "Iron Man doesn't need a side-kick." The familiar whine of the charging repulsor was loud enough to pierce your hearing, the sound echoing off every wall around you. The helmet of Tony's suit snapped shut, but just before it covered his eyes, you thought that you had maybe caught a hint of regret in them, but there was an unmistakable glare filled with betrayal that you would never forget.

You didn't have time to worry about that now, however, feeling Rhodey's arm wrap around you to toss you aside, just in time for Tony's attack that sent them both flying through the wall and out of sight. You definitely weren't equipped for this kind of fight, but even if you were, the large, bleeding gash in your arm stopped you; it must have come from one of the broken bottles on the floor as you landed. Moving to the bar and finding purest bottle of alcohol that you could find, you gasped while pouring it over the wound to clean it, cursing Tony under your breath with the deafening sounds of the fight breaking into your thoughts. In this moment, in your mind you didn't care if you ever saw that man again, but you knew that your heart wouldn't let anything involving Stark go too long unnoticed.

~~~

You didn't think that it would only be two days.

When Pepper had called you about Tony's strange behavior in her office, and how he actually seemed to be apologizing to her, albeit in his own dysfunctional way, you knew that something was amiss. Tony didn't defer to error often, and this time it felt like it was more important than at any other, given his recent behavior. Rhodey had all but disappeared after their fight at the mansion, and without being able to reach him you decided to drive all the way out there again to see if Tony had stayed behind.

When you pulled into the driveway and parked at the front door, it took all of your focus to remain calm, the sight of his partially destroyed home tugging at your emotions and making you feel sadder than you were before. Not only was your best friend falling apart before your eyes, but now the home where he could find solace was crumbling much as its owner was.

Once inside, you could hear him working in the lab below, the sounds echoing through the house, and whatever work he was doing shaking into your feet through the floor. "Jarvis, is he alone?" you asked the A.I., making your way down the stairs and towards the glass door that stood between you and your friend.

"Yes, miss. He has been working for much of the afternoon, and I believe that your visit will be a welcome break. Perhaps for both of us." The door clicked as the lock released and swung open for you, allowing you to enter without any announcement.

"Hey, Tony."

He stopped his work for a second, stilling his hands at the sound of your voice, but without looking up he quickly began again. "I wasn't sure if you'd ever come back," he answered quietly. "I tried to call but you didn't answer."

"I didn't know what I would say if I did."

"Good point. I didn't know what I would say either."

"Then why did you call?"

"Well," he paused, his voice trying to crack, "I um...I could really...well, you see, thing is..."

When he faded out and didn't finish, you couldn't stand to watch him like that or listen to the uncertainty in him anymore. This was Tony Stark; he was confident and smart, and he rarely, if ever, had this much trouble saying anything to anyone. Never once in your entire relationship had he been unable to say things to you. You crossed the lab to stand at his side, gently resting your hand over his, "hey, what's going on?"

"You know that I don't say this easily..." he began again, but this time so quietly that you strained to hear him, "...but I need...your help."

"Why do you sound so ashamed to ask?"

"Because I can usually do things on my own."

"Well, Tone, guess what? I think these past few weeks has definitively proven that you can't. I have no idea what's going on with you, but I can say for certain that whatever it is, you're shit at handling it."

"I'd like to think that I'm handing it pretty well considering that I'm dying."

"Oh, yeah, you're handling it perf-...wait...what did you just say?" you stopped, mouth hanging in disbelief. "Did you say that you're dying?"

"Yeah, but I'm trying really hard not to." When he finally turned to look at you when he didn't hear a reply, his entire demeanor changed and he was filled with concern; when he saw the tears filling in your eyes and threatening to spill over the flushed red of your cheeks, he began to panic and began to feel the anxiety build inside of himself faster than it ever had before. "Hey, no, don't do that. I'm working on it, okay? I'm gonna fix this, like I always do. Come on, no tears, alright? I don't deserve them."

"Tell me everything," you demanded shakily, barely holding yourself together, "what kind of sick is it? How are you working on it? What do you need me to do to help? I'll do anything, Tony, just tell me."

"It's not looking great, but what it boils down to is that the palladium core in this thing," he scoffed, tapping the arc reactor in his chest, "is actually doing the opposite of what it's supposed to and poisoning me to death instead. I need to synthesize this new element to replace it, but J says it's impossible to do. I like to disagree, as you know, so I'm giving it a try."

"Let me see the plans."

Tony smiled at your willingness to help, despite the fact that he hadn't even had the chance to apologize to you yet. But this is how your friendship had always been; one of you would mess up, and the other would write it off and move forward. Formal apologies were saved for really big indiscretions, and thankfully there had been only maybe one or two of those at best in all of the years that you had been in each other's lives. He didn't want this to be one of those times, but given the possibility that his time left on this earth could be limited, he didn't want to risk there being any chance of hard feelings between you.

"I'm really sorry, (Y/N). I behaved like a complete ass, and you were right. I was out of control."

"It's okay."

"No, it's not. Don't let me off the hook like that."

"Fine," you smiled, though you didn't feel any happiness behind it, "you were an ass. But I forgive you, because I had no idea that this is what you were dealing with. I wish you would have told me sooner." Grabbing one of his tablets from his workstation, you watched as Jarvis played out the idea that Tony was working on, and how he was going to try to synthesize his only chance at surviving. "You really think you can do this?"

"I think I have a pretty good shot," he nodded, "but I could use some of that muscle of yours...which you never mentioned before..."

"I didn't want you to know."

"Why not?"

"Because I didn't think it was important," you shrugged, your eyes still devouring the material in your hands, "and I didn't want you to try to recruit me into that damn super-secret boy band of yours. But this...this is important. This I'll do." Setting the tablet down, you turned to your friend with a look of determination that had his heart racing beneath the reactor that was trying to stop it, and for the first time, he felt hopeful that with you there to help him, this might actually work. "So, when do we start?"

"Sweetheart," he smiled back with a sparkle of excitement in his eyes, "we just did."