Disclaimer: I do not own the original canon nor am I making any profit from writing this piece. All works are accredited to their original authors, performers, and producers while this piece is mine. No copyright infringement is intended. I acknowledge that all views and opinions expressed herein are merely my interpretations of the characters and situations found within the original canon and may not reflect the views and opinions of the original author(s), producer(s), and/or other people.

Warnings: This story may contain material that is not suitable for all audiences and may offend some readers. Please utilize understanding of personal sensitivities before and while reading.

Author's Note(s): This fic does not make excuses for certain behaviors. As such, this fic should be considered Not Natasha Romanoff Friendly, even if the referenced behavior and retribution are mild here. There's also unfriendliness expressed towards SHIELD in general.

Challenge Information:
Day/Fic: 12
Representation(s): IronHusbands (Tony Stark/James "Rhodey" Rhodes); Secret Romance
Word Count: 1253 (Story Only); n/a (Story & Epigraph)

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Reasons Why
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James spent most of the flight feeling like he couldn't breathe. No mystery franken-tech or Ten Ring remnant worried him more than the fact he couldn't get Tony to answer. Connecting to JARVIS didn't help ease growing fear in the airman. J apparently lost track of Tony's vitals due to the idiot flying a fucking nuke through a wormhole. The suit had briefly gone offline and while J could confirm that it was back on this planet, diagnostic systems were not functioning.

He should have dropped the mission in Hong Kong the moment Tony called him. He should have come right away. He knew that Tony was like a cat; too many times the genius refused to ask for help when he needed it. Not this time. This time he had reached out; this time Tony had asked. Like an idiot, James had continued a goddamn mission because Tony had asked him to help protect people, because Tony wanted the suits used to help even if that meant letting a member of the Armed Forces pilot one, because Tony wouldn't have wanted civilians left unprotected against terrorists. It just could have cost him the most important person in his life.

God, he should have dropped the mission, civilian casualties be damned. Tony had needed him and once again, he hadn't been there. How many times would they ride this edge of disaster before one of them actually died for these people? Had it already happened and James was heading towards a body to id? JARVIS couldn't even get a visual on the area due to damage from the alien army that had invaded New York (because that was their lives now: alien army was a thing they could face).

Hitting Midtown didn't help. There weren't any aliens, which James had already been expecting from J's limited report. The destruction was vast. Alien tech littered the streets. A lot of it had damage from repulsor blasts. A quick flight around the Stark Tower showed that the upper floors had sustained damage. The penthouse had taken most of it.

His stomach felt like it was filled with gravel as he noted the entirely missing window that matched JARVIS' report of Tony being thrown through it.

James had to find Tony ASAP.

Once he tracked down the location of Tony's personal reactor, James took a moment to listen to JARVIS' newest biometric scan of the genius. He spared another moment to reassure the AI that he would get Tony seen by actual medical personnel in short order. Only then did he step out of the armor to confront his troublesome lover sitting with a group of other people all of who looked just as exhausted as Tony clearly was.

James had meant to be angry or at least demanding. He had meant to scold or yell. But freed from the suit, he could smell the blood and ash in the air. He could taste the death surrounding the area. It left no room for anything except remembering the list of ways that this could have ended differently. When Tony noticed him and immediately lit up like he was seeing the best thing in the world, James could only think about how close to not even having a body to bury this situation had been.

"Rhodey," Tony protested when James yanked him in for an embrace. He knew what Tony was trying to do, even as he melted into the hold. They had agreed to keep up the lie that they were just friends, even after the repeal. They had good, solid reasons. There had been charts even. None of it mattered now, not when Tony would have been alone.

"I'm quitting," he declared before finally giving into the urge to rain kisses down on Tony's upturned face. James continued his declaration even as he did so, letting the words and kisses alternate. "Not leaving you alone again. You get kidnapped or shot at or tossed out fucking windows. Nukes through wormholes. J had no clue and he couldn't get eyes on you. Worried us, baby. No more. Not leaving again."

A throat cleared off to the side, dragging James' attention back to their audience. Most of the ragged group were complete strangers-though the blond in the Captain America getup did bear a passable resemblance to the real Steve Rogers. But one face was very familiar. Woman or not, James made a sudden lurch towards the spy, only stopping because he still had a hold of Tony.

"You have a lot of fucking nerve showing your face, Rushman," James snarled. "Stab anyone with needles recently? Spiked any drinks?"

"I did what was needed," the woman stated in a flat tone.

"I bet," James replied, not hiding any of his disagreement with that statement. SHIELD was yet another reason that he shouldn't be in another part of the world. It left Tony too vulnerable to them, and without backup if they decided to take more than Tony was willing to give. He had to get Tony away from here. He directed his attention back to Tony. "Why haven't you been through decon yet? J detected residual rads beyond the node."

"I didn't think of it?"

"Yeah, that would be the concussion," James noted with a stern frown. "You know, the one you got when you were thrown through a reinforced window."

"Honeybear, sweetheart, light of my life—"

"I'm quitting."

"You can't do that! You love that uniform, being a part of something greater than yourself. You can't give up something you love!"

"Oh, my little idiot," James countered as he shifted his hold to cup Tony's face. He planted a kiss on the brunet's forehead, taking a moment to breathe in the scent of unwashed genius-engineer. Then he gently placed a kiss on each of Tony's eyelids and the tip of his nose. He pulled back to see Tony staring at him with wide eyes. The man never could figure out how to respond to tenderness. "I do love my career and I worked hard to get where I am on my own merits. But you're forgetting something, Tones, like always: there will never be anything I love more than you."

"Platypus," Tony whispered, his voice cracking in the middle of the word. James began urging them from the restaurant. The tower wasn't far and it would have the facilities to handle decontamination. JARVIS could use the uplink from War Machine to restore his connection to the building and then they could probably handle any other injuries without resorting to outside medical personnel. "You still can't quit."

"I'm going to seriously consider it for at least the next month." James stopped suddenly to make a point. "Tony, let's get something clear right here and now. This? Us? It's the greatest thing I could ever be a part of. Today, I nearly lost you again and it's because I was once again too far away to help. So you are going to skip the very rational list of reasons why quitting is a bad idea and we're going to get clean and patched up before making good use of the new bed you had installed in the penthouse for at least twelve hours. Then, if we aren't feeling both our age and the fact that we got aggressively knocked around in tin cans, we'll make better use of it. Sound like a plan?"

"You are a genius," Tony declared in awed gratefulness.

"Takes one to know one."

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An Ending
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