Title: The Colour of You
Author: firstflier
Theme: 003. Red
Rating: T
Length: 1113 words
Summary: Pepper wasn't her first nickname.
Author's Note: Erm...yeah. Don't really know what came over me.
Not many people realise but 'Pepper' wasn't her first nickname.
He's always associated her with red but not for the reasons people think. Tony is actually a subtle, complex man who has a taste for whimsy. So, when he calls her 'Red' in the office it's not because of her hair colour.
It all starts four days into the job when she leans past him to grab a folder and he gets a whiff of a scent that is entirely Miss Potts. He has to grab the desk to stop the wave of dizziness that washes over him. She smells fresh and understated and raw. It's like speed and passion and something he will never understand.
She smells like the colour red.
He's never met anyone that smelt like a colour so she's already intriguing – a rare curiosity that he deems worthy of his time.
So she becomes 'Red' and she suits it.
One day, three weeks later, that all changes.
"Sir, Miss Potts needs you in the bathroom." The voice of JARVIS cuts through the noise in the workshop and Tony turns the volume of his music down to hear better.
"What?" Tony's not entirely sure he heard right. Has Red changed her mind about sharing that shower? After all, she's not the first assistant that has played hard to get.
"Miss Potts has requested your assistance in the bathroom, sir." JARVIS repeats.
"Tell her I'll be up in 10 minutes." Tony moves back to his tool box but is interrupted.
"Sir, I believe it's rather urgent." If JARVIS were capable of an emotion other than sarcasm, Tony might think the AI sounded worried. A frown appears on his brow as he stands up.
"Alright, alright, I'm going. She probably just ran out of loo roll or something." He takes the stairs two at a time and tries to ignore the unease tingling in his veins. He nears the main bathroom on the first floor and can hear what sounds like retching. He smirks as he gets closer to the door.
"You called me all the way up here to hold your hair while you puke? I hope this is the result of some heavy drinking last night otherwise it's just not worth it."
There is no witty retort. He knocks on the door but can only hear the disgustingly wet sound of her throwing up again.
"Red?"
He pushes open the door and has to exercise all of his willpower not to scream, faint or throw up.
Because there, on his bathroom floor, is Miss Virginia 'Red' Potts, vomiting blood.
He stares, with abject horror, as she leans over the toilet to empty yet more of the thick, dark scarlet liquid into the porcelain bowl. His brain has frozen and he can't seem to look away from the scene before him.
It's everywhere.
Thick, red and sinking into the crevices between each tile on the floor. He can see it's staining her skirt and it's matting in her hair and there is a smudge already drying on her cheek. He wonders how long she's been up here all alone and dying. The thought forces him into action and he tries to move towards her but finds his feet slipping in the gloopy, syrup-like substance now coating his bathroom tiles like a new coat of paint. Using the shower rail for support, he pulls himself towards her only to feel his heart strings tug at the absolute terror in her teary eyes.
"JARVIS!" He sinks to the floor and wraps an arm around her to make her lean, trembling, against him. "Call an ambulance then upload Miss Potts' vitals to the main hard drive." He making damn sure something like this never happens again. If there is even the slightest change or abnormality in her vital signs JARVIS can inform him straight away.
He sits for the next 15 minutes with her blood soaking through his trousers and watching helplessly as she heaves more of her life up. She's sobbing and whimpering and it's so painful to listen to. He hates that all he can say is 'shh, shh'. He doesn't know what to look at; there's blood and bile everywhere and the smell is almost unbearable. But she's shaking against him and he rocks her until her fingers press into his forearm and she's suddenly wailing with such agony that his heart shatters.
Hours later they are in the hospital and he can still hear her lament ringing in his ears.
He holds his head in his hands and sits in the chair beside her bed when the doctor comes in with the results of the hundreds of tests they've been running.
Tony can barely focus on what's being explained to him by the very patient doctor. He only picks up on the occasional word and has to piece them together in his head Virginia...poisoned...deliberate act...what did she eat at lunch?
And then, as though a light bulb has been flicked on inside his head, Tony makes sense of it all. Lunch time, when the sandwiches got delivered, Red had complained that he'd picked up hers by accident and he'd responded by very gentlemanly licking the entire sandwich before offering it back to her. She'd rolled her eyes and picked up his sandwich, waving it in his direction, saying she didn't like his usual tuna and pepper order so he owed her.
He starts shaking in his seat as the realisation that the sandwich was tampered with, the sandwich that was meant for him, the sandwich that he so gallantly made Red eat even though he knew she wouldn't really like it. The doctor leaves with a hand to Tony's shoulder and repeats what Tony wants to, needs to, hear; she's going to be okay.
He glances at her, lying in the hospital bed, pale and drawn and looking so fragile that his heart twinges in his chest. It's the first time he's seen her without make up (she's normally very professional and powered) and he notices the smattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks for the first time. It looks like someone has gone to town on her with a pepper grinder.
He holds her hand and, when he looks at her, he doesn't see red anymore; he sees his bathroom full of her blood with her life leaving her faster than he can understand. He shudders away from the image and vows to never relive the moment again.
After that day she doesn't smell like red anymore.
She smells a bit like a girl he once knew and a lot like a woman he knows called Pepper.
~Fin.