My dad said I could come into work this Friday in my Halloween costume. So, of course, that's what I'm doing. I mean, why not?
So I am literally going to my professional, secretary job in full fawn outfit/makeup. I will need to greet everyone who comes in our door while wearing this.
Universe: MCU AUs
Relationships: James "Rhodey" Rhodes/Tony Stark
In the first universe they don't meet until Tony is dying with a cluster of shrapnel worming it's way towards his heart, and Rhodey is a downed helicopter pilot who's as much a rescuee as a rescuer. It's not love at first sight bit it is the start of a beautiful friendship.
In the second they meet as babies, when Rhodey is just toddling and Tony's still trying to master the art of crawling. Their moms are corporate high flyers who get together for lunch every week and bemoan their male coworkers and often absent husbands; the friendship between to two boys is a happy coincidence. That doesn't mean it doesn't last a lifetime. They build suits of armour and fight alien invaders, and Rhodey's mama smiles proudly when she watches her son stand up at that altar only a few years later. The tears in her eyes are for Tony's mom, who missed the chance to see her baby boy all grown up and marrying his best friend.
There are universes out there where one of them is female, or both. They play hard in the boys club that is college engineering, and go home at night to a shared dorm room that smells more of engine oil and degreaser than of perfume.
There are universes where they meet as toddlers, as school children, at college and as adults. Universes where they marry, where they break up, where they never get the courage to make the first move. Sometimes they marry other people; sometimes they're even happy. They're always friends, sometimes lovers, but always there's a close bond like magnetism between them.
There are universes where they meet at college, both too young to relate to their peers, and in some they tumble into bed together and it works. In some they break up and it takes half a lifetime of growing close again before they're willing to give it a second chance.
Rhodey's a hero in almost every universe; in some a superhero, and in a memorable few he's labelled a villain. He and Tony run from oppressive regimes and misguided justice. More often, though still rarely, Tony's the one to turn to the dark side and Rhodey has to bring him down. In one cruel and broken 36th universe they embrace one last time before they detonate the bomb that will save 7 billion lives while ending their own.
In the 57th universe Rhodey is an escaped slave and a pirate, and Tony is a spoilt young lordling who suddenly opens his eyes to the real world. Old Miles Morales tells the tale so that it ends with them kissing as the War Machine sales into the sunset, but really they loved and lived and fought and headed a pirate fleet to rival them all until they handed over the reins to Miles and Lila, and retired to a quiet fishing village.
In the 72nd universe Tony rides well enough for the son of a railway tycoon, but he has no head for cattle until Rhodey pulls him aside and teaches him how to push the herd slow and steady. They move from property to property, wherever the work takes them, and this time they both try to make the first move. It's meaningful glances more than it's quiet fumbling under blankets, and it only lasts until the winter that measles sweeps through the town, and Tony doesn't let up his grip on Rhodey's hand even as he drowns in his own lungs.
Usually, they live relatively happy, exciting lives. Sometimes there is a child, children, sometimes pets. Usually, their legacy is a too human AI and a too clever niece, and a team of heroes in training.
In the 99th universe they are friends from college, they are Iron Man and War Machine. They battle terrorists and aliens and rogue AIs; the mechanical muscle on a team of superheroes so much younger and brighter. They save the world and they save each other, and they don't go out in a blaze of glory.
The 100th universe is a splinter of infinite possibilities.
