Oh, that was great.Tony the alchoholic, with Rhodey secretly taking over his job and Pepper helping him, Tony not even noticing until he shows up to fight evil and it's already taken care of..! He totally works. I love the dynamics between all of them--I'm just as much sold on the Tony/Rhodey as the Tony/Pepper, and I LOVE the friendship/colleague relationship between Pepper and Rhodey. You've also done a good job of blending (what little I know of) comicverse with movieverse--the hints of Happy/Pepper, (which made me cringe when thinking about movie!Pepper, but it still really worked) the Fin Fang Foom reference? And mentioning Captain America and all that stuff. Nice job. Also, this line? IS PERFECT.

“No, you don’t,” he says, dead sure. “He’s pulled through some pretty crazy shit in his life, Pepper, and he did it mostly alone. This time, you know he won’t admit it, but he needs friends—” He tilts his head, just a little, indicating himself; putting just a little extra stress on ‘friends’; knowing she’ll get it, that that’s all this is. “—And he needs you.”