Big thanks to Kylie (tumblr\okayseesee) for the idea and most of the plot. I hate you for giving me these feels.
Human beings never had a choice. Black and white was the norm, and it had always been like that, until a man met his soulmate and saw the world in its true colors. It wasn't a fairytale. It was a dream – it was a dream every human being had – to see color, to see the world for its beauty, to fall in love and see more than just the dullness of black and white.
Some theorized meeting one's soulmate and opening up the spectrum of colors was not to be taken as just a dream, but as the most magical and unexplainable moment a human could ever experience in their life. The key to color was a simple touch.
"What a load of bullshit." Tony mumbled under his breath as he listened to a world renowned scientist speak at a Scientific and Technologically Advanced Gala.
Tony was well into his mid-thirties, and for a while, he looked forward to the 'magical moment' when his whole world would open up in a rainbow of colors, but towards the end of his twenties, he realized the dream, the fantasy, was a 'load of bullshit'.
No matter how many women he met, or how much sex he had, his black and white world stayed the same. Women continually faked it, saying how he was their soulmate, but he didn't care, because they weren't his. By the third woman who claimed to be his soulmate, he had already grown accustomed to their lies, and brushed them off without second a thought.
It was during one storming and saddened night in the park when he realized the idea of chasing for a soulmate was stupid. He sat on a bench with a jacket on, drenched and on the brink of catch a cold, when he decided, on his thirtieth birthday, that he'd discontinue the search and give up on love.
After that, he continued to have sex with women and carelessly forced them out of his house by morning, ignoring their requests to cuddle with him, see him, or otherwise have any other contact with him. He went through women, secretaries, and personal assistants like circuit boards, and he never once looked back.
Tony was convinced his love life was nonexistent.
"Excuse me." He heard a woman shout outside his door before she burst through it, followed by two very disgruntled security guards and his secretary.
Tony raised his eyebrows at the scene and watched it unfold.
A security guard reached for the woman's arm and she immediately stepped back. "Touch me again and I swear to god, I will take out my pepper spray." The security guard immediately retracted his hand.
Tony smirked at the sight; he couldn't say he wasn't impressed by the forcefulness and bravery of the woman.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Stark. This woman insisted on seeing you, but she did not have an appointment." His secretary told him whilst she subtly leaned towards him so he'd get a better view of her cleavage.
Tony wasn't paying attention.
"And your name is?" He asked the unknown woman.
"Virginia Potts. I'm from accounting." The woman huffed. "I found an error in last month's spreadsheet."
Tony raised his eyebrow, as did the others in the room. He looked at the security guards and his secretary and motioned them away. "Leave us."
His secretary looked hesitant, but ultimately decided to follow the security guards out the door. Virginia watched them leave and nearly swallowed her throat when the realization of where she was hit her. She was on her fourth month, working for Stark Industries, and she already had the guts to charge through the front doors, guns blazing. Some say she was asking to be fired, others would commend her bravery. She turned to the CEO of Stark Industries and tried to steady her hands. She was there to point out an error and potentially save the company hundreds of millions of dollars. If he decided to fire her, then so be it. She was going to stand her ground until the very end.
He held his hand out. "You realize I calculated everything on that spreadsheet myself, right?"
She gulped. "Yes, Sir. I'm very aware."
"Who is your supervisor?"
She placed the spreadsheet in front of him. "Mr. Povski."
"And he sent you up?"
"No. He refused to acknowledge the possibility of an error and turned me away, and then threatened to fire me."
Tony raised an eyebrow at her. "And you thought it was appropriate to charge through here, without an appointment, and threaten my security?" He didn't sound pleasant, but he didn't sound bothered or angry.
"I…" She paused to find her composure. "…Given the level of emergency, I thought my actions were deemed appropriate."
"Uh huh." He eyed her. "How long have you been here?"
"Four months." She pressed her lips together.
"Would be a shame if you lost your job over something like this."
She nodded once as she tried her best to not to let him break through her guard. "I doubt you'd want to fire me after you look through the spreadsheet."
Tony hummed and turned his attention to the piece of paper in front of him. Virginia watched as his eyes went back and forth over the numbers, following every single calculation and manually crunching the numbers in his head. It was only when she saw his eyes widen did she begin to smile.
"Huh." Tony wrote down a few numbers on the side before leaning back into his chair. "The company would've lost a lot of money."
"Almost one hundred and ninety-two million dollars, to be exact." She corrected him.
Tony folded his arms across his chest and stared at her. He looked at her up and down, and smirked. "You're fired."
Pepper's eyes widened. "What!? After I practically saved your company and your reputation?" She shouted.
"Unless, of course, you accept my proposal."
She calmed down and took a second to process what he was saying. "…What kind of proposal?"
"Ditch the cubicle job, the brain dead supervisor of yours, and become my personal assistant, effective immediately—well, not immediately. Tomorrow, to be exact."
Virginia blinked. "Your… personal assistant?"
"Yup." Tony flashed a smile. "Unless you want to be fired. Three times the pay, twice the benefits, a company car—the works."
She sighed. "Do I have to make a decision right now?"
"Yes."
That didn't help. What did she exactly have to lose? Her cubicle was smaller than anything she'd ever seen, everyone in the department was rude and cocky, and her supervisor was probably as useful paperclip.
"Okay, Mr. Stark. I accept your offer."
His eyes lit up. "Yeah?"
"Yes."
"Great, then it's settled. Effective tomorrow, you, Pepper Potts, will be my personal assistant." He got up from his chair.
"Virginia."
"Hm?"
"You said… Pepper. My name is Virginia."
"I like Pepper better." He replied and held out his hand. "It suits you. Freckles and the whole pepper spray bit. Don't worry, you'll learn to love it."
Pepper pressed her lips together. She's heard a lot about his quirky personality and flirtatious acts through the media. She is no stranger to his playboy ways, and she would never allow herself to stoop to such a low level. She was determined, independent, and a strong willed woman, and she'd never let a man get in the way of her hard work and success.
She smiled and reached her hand out to meet his.
It felt like everything was moving in slow motion. His eyes widened as colors, red, blue—the entire spectrum—blossomed in front of his eyes. He could see the color of his desk, the richness of the dark brown wood and the dark gray colored infused marks. He could see the glow that bounced off the smooth tan colored filing cabinets, and the dark red and gold colored hotrod model that sat on his desk.
And then he saw her hair—her bright orange colored hair. Dark tan colored freckles littered her soft pale skin; they were on her cheeks, her nose, and her neck. Her eyes—oh god, her eyes. They were a nice, deep shade of blue that could only be described as blue as the ocean itself. He could see himself drowning in them within second.
She blinked in confusion as his hand continued to grip hers.
"Wow…" He breathed in shock.
She retracted her hand. "I'm sorry?"
He frowned and felt his heart start to drop "Do you not see it?"
"See what?" She asked.
Tony's mouth slowly parted as he felt his heart start to shatter. "The… the… col—" He panicked. "What color is this?" He pointed to his desk.
"Dark gray, maybe close to black?" She shrugged.
He bit back his sorrow. "And that?" He pointed at his filing cabinet."
"Light gray." She replied, unsure of why he was asking.
He stared at her in befuddlement. How could that be possible? How could she not see the colors? They were so magical and amazing. The light and dark, the blues and the reds, the colors in between and its lusciousness—how could she not see any of it?
She was his soulmate, but he wasn't hers. He gave up on love, on finding his soulmate, and he was okay with living a life without it. He chased the dream and felt his heart shatter, and here he was again, witnessing the dream he refused to chase any longer shatter his heart once again. It felt like he was in hell.
"Eight." He finally told her with a forced smile. "Be here at eight in the morning, and ask my secretary for this week's schedule."
Pepper nodded and shook off the weirdness of his earlier questions. "Yes, Mr. Stark. Will that be all?"
He forced himself to widen his fake smile. "That'll be all, Miss Potts."
Soulmates. Colors.
"What a load of bullshit." Tony muttered after he watched her leave his office. Scientists were right—all of the theories he's heard were spot on. The vibrant colors that were before him couldn't be described with mere words, but his broken heart, however, was a different story. The pain wasn't physical. It was emotional, and much more torturous than any pain he's ever experienced before.
A lone tear rolled down his cheek, just before he turned to look at the beautiful light blue sky outside his office.
It was a week later when he decided to try again.
The first week of working as Tony's personal assistant wasn't that bad. He went to all the meetings, took care of all the signing, and even listened to her when she asked him to turn down his music in his office. At first, she was suspicious, due to all of the rumors she's heard about his partying, playboy ways, and his refusal to do anything related to Stark Industries.
The beginning of the end began during the start of her second week as his personal assistant, and for a long time (approximately ten years, two months, ten days, and a trip to Afghanistan) she didn't know what set him off that made him return to his rumored partying and playboy self.
"Mr. Stark," Pepper muttered as she walked into his office. She held a clipboard that held several important documents, most of which needed to be signed. "I need your signature on a few documents."
"Always pestering me for something, eh, Miss Potts?" He smirked as she looked up from his desk.
Pepper's thin lips formed a small smile. "Just doing my job." She walked up to him and handed him the clipboard.
Tony grabbed the board, and signed every document she pointed to. When he was done, she took the clipboard and hugged it against her chest.
"Thank you, Mr. Stark for being so cooperative."
"Aren't I always cooperative?" He smiled lovingly at her, enjoying the slight blush on her cheeks.
Pepper chuckled. "Only when you feel like it." Before she could turn away, he called her back.
His eyes showed more feeling than ever. He was desperate for answers—desperate for some kind of explanation. Why couldn't she see color? Why was he the only one? After a few days of pondering and researching, he thought it was just some kind of adaptation. Maybe she needed a reason to see the color—or maybe she needed more time.
Before she could respond, he was hugging her. His strong protective arms wrapped around her shoulders and pressed her against his chest. Pepper stood there, frozen in place, wide eyed and confused. She wasn't sure what she should do. He was her boss. Her boss!
"Um…" Pepper muttered, looking around the room and furrowing her eyebrows.
He pulled her away, but kept her at arm's length. "Do you see it?" He asked excitedly.
"See… what, exactly?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
"The—the..." His wide grin turned into a frown. It didn't work. His hands slipped from her shoulders and down to his sides. "…Nevermind. I thought I…" He sighed. "…Nothing." He flopped back into his office chair in utter disappointment.
He tried every other week, and then those weeks turned into months. It was on the second month of blank progress when he contacted the scientist that spoke at the Gala he attended years ago. When he asked the scientist for confidentiality, the scientist already knew what had happened, but the man never thought it turned out to be one sided.
"She doesn't see in color?" The scientist asked over the private line.
"No." Tony muttered in sadness. "I've been trying for a couple months now."
"There have been only a few cases when that happened, but there was no further progress. The men and women simply moved on after they realized it was never meant to be. The term soulmate is mysterious, Mr. Stark. Sometimes two people are meant for each other and sometimes it's one-sided." The scientist explained.
Tony held his head in disappointment and sorrow. It was the first time he'd been in such a position. He only met her and knows nothing about her, and already, he knew he was meant to be with her, but how could it only be one-sided.
"How…" He muttered as he felt his heart ache. "…How can I live like this... in this colorful world, beautiful, fantastic, and magical, if I don't have someone to experience it with?"
Tony's words were painful to the scientist, and even he felt a pang in his heart. "I'm sorry, Mr. Stark."
That sparked the beginning of his old partying, drinking, and playboy self. He drank himself that same night and continued to do so into the wee hours in the morning. He locked himself in his workshop, worked on miscellaneous things, including the hotrod, and only went out to party and bring women to his bed.
Pepper caught wind of this sudden change when he refused to do any work for the company. He signed papers only when he wanted to, and went to meetings when he felt like it. Sometimes he went to meetings completely drunk, or hung over, and sometimes he slept in them, snoring obnoxiously.
It was a month after his playboy ways returned when Pepper had enough.
"I'm leaving." Tony slurred as he got up from his seat at the head of the table in the conference room where an important, and crucial, meeting was being held, one that Pepper had been planning for almost a month.
This was the third time that week he's left in the middle of a meeting. Pepper's jaw dropped when he suddenly upped and left. She smiled nervously at the businessmen and businesswomen in front of her before going after her boss, and this time, she wasn't going to sugarcoat her words.
She gave him a piece of her mind right as the doors to the meeting closed.
"Mr. Stark, where the fuck do you think you're going?!" She swore to his back.
Tony stopped, but didn't look at her. "Out. Probably to a strip club." He didn't sound the least bit phased, or surprised, by her cursing.
"Do you know how long I've been planning this meeting!?" She angrily strode towards him.
"I don't know… a day?"
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" She cursed under her breath. "Why are you being such a—such a—" She couldn't think of the words.
"An asshole?" He turned to her. His blank and otherwise bored expression caught her off guard.
"I was going to say prick, but sure, let's go with that, too."
"Pretty ballsy of you to say such words to your boss." His lack of care for the company infuriated her.
"Then go ahead. Fire me." She spat at him. Everyone in the conference room could hear them, and everyone around them watched as the calm and collected Miss Pepper Potts fired off at him. "You obviously don't care about your company, or any of its employees since you seem to fuck every woman in the office you can get your hands on! So why the fuck should I care!?"
Tony stared at her as multiple thoughts ran through his mind. He could see the fire in her eyes, the way her freckles and nose scrunched up, and the way her nostrils flared. It was the drawback of being able to see in color, and he hated it. God damn, did he hate it.
He grit his teeth and balled up his fists, but settled down moments later.
"Do what you want, Potts." He turned and left before she, or anyone else, could see the tears form at the corner of his eyes.
Pepper returned to work the next day, and she had no idea why. She didn't owe Tony anything, but after a long, relaxing bubble bath, and a phone call with her mother, she decided to continue her work at Stark Industries, despite the foul mood and irresponsibleness of her boss.
He continued to drink, have sex with women, shoo them away the next morning, and hold massive parties at his house where he could drink himself to oblivion and feel good about it. The only downside was the torturous thoughts he held when he was by himself.
He cried, and sometimes replaced the tears with more alcohol, when he realized why he could see the color of alcohol, clothes, hair, paintings he had hung around his Malibu mansion, and… her freckles. He vividly remembered the color of Pepper's hair, her deep blue eyes, her freckles, and the color of her red lipstick he loved so much.
He turned to alcohol in hopes that he'd get over her, or forget about her, but the colors – all of the colors reminded him of her, and why he was the only one that could see the beauty of such a fucked up world.
[Nine years later…]
The last thing Tony remembered was asking Pepper, as her heels clicked against the concrete flooring of his workshop, to not turn down his music, which, of course, she paid no attention to.
He was due for a demonstration in Afghanistan and Obadiah would have his head if he skipped out on it. He was accompanied by Rhodey, whom felt more like a babysitter than a part of the United States Army at the time.
Fun-vee.
Of course Tony remembered his words to Rhodey, and God, did he regret them.
"Contact!" The woman in the passenger seat of the 'fun-vee' cried when the Humvee in front of them blew up.
It was his worst nightmare after that. The color of blood—it's shade of red, dark and light, and its texture, thick, thin, dried, and fresh… it was all stamped in his mind, and no matter how hard he tried to rid himself of its horrific sight, he couldn't forget.
He screamed, but no sound came out, as he watched the men and women that served his nation were gunned down. Blood splattered everywhere, and then all over his chest – blossoming and seeping through the bulletproof vest he wore. Blackness engulfed him, but even then, he could not forget the color of blood. He would never forget.
There was more blood than he thought there was. Its color—its devious and deceptive color—was the rival of the world's beauty. It dripped from his chest the moment he woke up in the dark and dingy cave, and despite the pain, he wanted to get rid of it. He never wanted to see it again, but he did, every single day during his stay in the hands of the terrorists that kidnapped him.
He had no choice but to build the Jericho for them, and after a day of sifting through a useless box of scraps, he decided to build something entirely different.
"You got a family?" Tony asked Yinsen.
"Yes, and I will see them when I leave here. And you, Stark?"
He thought of those beautiful ocean blue eyes that greeted him every morning and bid him goodnight every evening. He thought of Pepper's lips, the way they curled when he did something stupid, and her freckles. God, her freckles. He wanted to know how far they traveled and how scattered they were. He wanted to take his time and map them out, memorize their location, and kiss each one. The color of her pencil skirts that complemented her blouse—and the way her hips swayed back and forth, drawing him in and leaving him breathless.
And then he thought of her crimson orange hair, how he wanted to thread his fingers in it and kiss her shoulder where bunches of freckles gathered. All of those happy memories came crashing down when he remembered that his feelings were one-sided.
"No." He replied sadly.
"So you're a man who has everything… and nothing."
Tony stayed silent as his thoughts, again, drifted to her.
"I'm sorry, Miss Potts." Obadiah said with a sorrow filled tone.
She didn't believe it. She couldn't believe it.
"They searched for three days now, and they haven't found anything." He told her with that low, hard voice of his.
It gave her the chills.
Pepper didn't cry that night, because a part of her knew he was still out there. Her expectations were high the next morning when she thought the knock on her door was Tony telling her, with that stupid handsome smile of his, that he wanted a cheeseburger.
It was Rhodey with a solemn expression. It was all was needed to trigger the river of tears. She cried into his arms and he held her, rubbing her back and giving her as much comfort as he could. It wasn't enough though. She only dreamt of Tony's face and his loud obnoxious music that played in the wee hours of the morning. She dreamt of his hair, disheveled and tossed, and his beautiful soft eyes.
She always woke up with tears dried against her cheek, and what puzzled her the most were the dreams. They weren't in black and white. They were in color. It was odd to her. She read multiple romantic novels about soulmates, and the ability to see in color. So, what did it all mean? She wasn't so sure herself.
She pried herself away from the worry and tried to bury her feelings with work, but despite her efforts, her mind seemed to always drift to her boss. She hoped he was still alive, and even though Obadiah gave up, she did not.
She urged Rhodey to continue searching, and he reassured her that they haven't stopped.
Obadiah was heartless and tried to convince her, as well as the rest of the world, that Tony Stark was dead, but she knew, deep down in her heart, that he wasn't.
It was 2 am when she got the call. Tony was alive. Rhodey called her and, with a happy laugh, told her the good news. He told her when and where they'd touch American soil, and Pepper could barely sleep the rest of the night. She was so happy and filled with joy; she could barely contain the tears of happiness that streamed from her eyes.
Her Tony was alive.
Tony thought he wasn't going to make it out of that cave alive, but after Yinsen's heroic stance, he couldn't give up on his promise.
"Thank you for saving me." He remembered saying.
"Don't waste it…. Don't waste your life, Stark." Yinsen responded with his last breath.
In that instance, he saw Pepper, and then he saw the last nine years of his life, how he wasted it and let it consume him. He couldn't live that life anymore. He needed to keep a promise, and he wasn't going to let Yinsen's life go to waste.
The moment the cargo hold opened was the slowest few seconds in his life. With Rhodey, his best friend, by his side, he thought he'd be able to hold back his feelings, but those feelings were undeniable when he saw her standing there.
Her gorgeous eyes, as blue as the Hawaiian oceans, stared at him. He didn't notice how puffy and red they were until he got closer. She was all he looked forward to seeing during his time in that cave, and he couldn't be happier. His lips curled upwards for a moment, and then back down to a steady and stern expression when he realized the status of their relationship.
Pepper knew something was off when she watched him walk towards her. He still had that Tony Stark charm to him, but something else entirely was different. He had this slight look of hurt and discomfort, but she was too happy to see him to let it bother her.
"Your eyes are red. Tears for your long lost boss?"
Her grin widened. "Tears of joy. I hate job hunting."
His breath hitched when he saw flashes of red blood. He looked away, caught his breath, and looked back at her. "Well, vacation's over."
They took a trip to Burger King and then called for a press conference, just like he asked, or rather, slightly demanded. He announced Stark Industries' departure from making weapons of mass destruction, and formally hung up his coat as the Merchant of Death.
Tony stepped aside while Pepper and Obadiah did the cleanup. They tried their best to give the media something to report, which was only filled with mass confusion and uncertainty. She couldn't believe Tony would make such an announcement, but he wouldn't do it without a reason.
While Obadiah continued to douse the flames of the media, Pepper stepped out to look for Tony. Something was wrong – she's known him far too long to not notice. Thanks to JARVIS, she found him inside the Arc Reactor room where he was mindlessly staring up at the large device.
"Tony, what the hell was that!?" She spat out.
He turned his head slightly and watched her out of the corner of his eye.
"Are you nuts? Have you finally lost it?" She asked, approaching him and stopping when he turned around. His dress shirt was unbuttoned half way and his coat was hooked on his fingers. His expression was filled with more agony and pain than joy. She tried to focus on his face, but all she could do was stare at the light in the middle of his chest. "Wh—What is that?"
"Arc reactor." He told her, watching her step closer and closer to him.
"Arc… reac—" She looked up at him, at the device behind him, and then back at him. "Th—That? That," she pointed at his chest and then at the large display behind him. "is that?" She was shocked and confused.
He nodded once. "Yup." He tapped on it and noticed how the soft blue glow was showing through his shirt. "Saved my life, actually… in more ways than one."
The mention made Pepper react without thinking. She closed her eyes, stepped towards him, and wrapped her arms around him. He let the moment sink in for a few seconds before he slowly brought his arms up to wrap around her waist.
"I miss you, too, Pepper."
"You're such an idiot." She sniffed and he chuckled.
"This is an 'I miss you' and not an 'I hate you, I quit' type of hug, right?"
"Shut up."
After a few more seconds, she pulled away, and what she saw made her gasp loudly.
"Oh my god." She stared at him and he stared back.
He wrinkled his nose. "What? Do I have something on my teeth?" He ran his tongue over his teeth and sucked at the gaps. "Is it gone?"
"Your… eyes…" Her mouth gapped. "…They're…" She looked down at the soft blue glow that caught her immediate attention, and reached for it. He watched her as she touched the surface of the arc reactor. "...and this is…"
Tony's eyes widened after the sudden realization of what might've just happened. "Do you see it?"
Her attention snapped to him.
"Do you… do you see it?" He held his breath. "Do you see all of it?" His soft chocolate brown eyes searched her deep blue ones until she responded with a little nod.
She couldn't stop herself from grinning. "It's so… beautiful."
Tony, for the first time in a decade, smiled. It was no ordinary smile. It was full of happiness, wonder, excitement, and joy. He thought it was one-sided. He gave up thinking she'd never be his. He lived through ten long years of seeing in color and not being able to share it with his soulmate.
Tears formed at the corners of his eyes and without another word, he cupped her cheeks and kissed her. It was a surprise at first, but eventually, she eased against his lips and brought her arms up to wrap them around his neck. She deepened the kiss and pulled him closer as he wrapped his arms around her waist. He pulled away and buried his face in the crook of her neck; he kissed the soft skin and laughed.
"Oh god, Pepper." He cried. "Pepper…"
Pepper couldn't believe how long he'd lived without her. It took ten long years for her to see the world for all it had to offer. He told her how he was convinced she was his soulmate, but he was never meant to be hers. That's when she realized why he suddenly changed a few months after she first started working for him.
And then he told her about Afghanistan. The blood—all of it—smeared all over the walls and floor… he couldn't get the images out of his head, but she held him through the pain, comforted him when he needed it most and when he needed her.
"There was one thing I could never forget, Pep." He muttered as she laid down with him on the couch. "It was probably the only thing that kept me going."
"Hm?" She hummed, looking up at him.
"The color of your eyes, your freckles, and the color of your lips." He pressed a small kiss to the top of her head. "I don't think I'd ever be able to forget those." He paused and smiled. "Never."
Pepper and Tony thought their lives were a bit easier, knowing they had each other to lean on, but that feeling was soon swept away during the battle in New York between The Avengers and Loki, and his Chitauri army.
"Be careful, okay?" Pepper said as she helped Tony pack some clothes.
Tony came up behind her, wrapped his arms around her middle, and kissed the back of her shoulder. "I'll be fine, Pep. Don't worry." He kissed her neck this time, and her lips formed a small smile.
"I always worry about you." She muttered against him.
It was only when the aching feeling in the pit of her stomach refused to settle when she realized what fear really was.
As she watched the small television in front of her on the Stark Industries private jet, she realized how much she loved him and how much she needed him.
Her lips parted and she trembled as a worried and sorrow expression filled her face. She was drained of color as her worst fears came to life. She watched Iron Man carry a nuke straight into the wormhole in the sky, and just like that, the colors around her faded in and out, switching between black and white, and color, before finally settling on black and white. She panicked as tears threatened to breach the corners of her eyes and roll down her cheeks.
"No…" She mumbled; her bottom lip quivered. "Please… Please don't…" She pleaded as she watched the wormhole begin to close. She gasped as she watched Iron Man fall from the wormhole and felt her heart shatter when the color did not return.
A single tear rolled down her cheek and in a few seconds, rivers of tears streamed down her face.
Soulmates.
Color.
It was the greatest event to ever happen to a person, but it was also the worst. Happiness does not come without sadness, and she learned that the hard way.
Slowly, but surely, color returned, and Pepper watched as colors of the sky outside, as well as the colors of the leather seats in the jet, greeted her. She didn't know whether to cry or be happy. The trauma from the experience hit her hard, and she didn't know if she could go another day without being next to him.
It took the plane three hours to turn around and return to the JFK Airport near Manhattan, and it was the longest three hours of her life. She told the driver that picked her up at the airport to drive as fast as he could to Stark Tower, and she didn't take no for an answer. He did what he was asked to do and didn't ask about the smeared mascara around her eyes.
Before he could fully stop the car in front of the building, she jumped out, and hopped and maneuvered around the rubble. She ignored the broken 'S' from the Stark Tower sign that was leaning against the side of the building and ran straight towards the door.
The elevator, to her surprise, was fully operational. She rode it to the penthouse where she saw him. His back was to her and he was admiring the interior damage, making mental notes of what needed to be repaired or replaced.
She watched him, marveled and basked in his presence, and drowned herself in the colors around her – the black of his shirt, the dark greyness of his pants, and his tanned skin. Tears threatened to fall once again as she saw the messiness of the back of his hair.
"Tony?" She muttered.
Tony turned his head and saw her out of the corner of his eye. He turned around to greet her and smiled.
"Hey."
God, she missed his voice. All at once, without warning, the tears escaped and streamed down her cheeks. She walked towards him, as fast as she could, and hugged him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close, crying into his shoulder and burying her nose into his neck.
He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her, closing his eyes as he felt the warmth of her skin against his neck.
"I told you to be careful." She mumbled.
He laughed and kissed the side of her head.
"No!" Tony shouted as he tried, and failed, to reach for her. Her pleas and screams rang in his ear as he watched her body drop into the red and orange blazing pit of fire below.
He, too, realized the drawbacks of seeing in color when he thought he lost her to Aldrich Killian. His eyesight blurred and focused, and went back and forth multiple times before he realized he could see in black and white again. He lost his soulmate – he lost the one person that mattered most to him, and it felt like his heart was being ripped out and thrown on the ground. He desperately fought back the tears as he turned to fight for her, one last time.
"No… please…" He pleaded as he held onto the railing in front of him – the only object that held him up – without it, he would've crumbled to the ground. "…Please…" The color did not return.
"A shame." He heard Killian say. "I would've caught her." He turned and saw Killian's small smirk.
Anger surged through him as that stupid smirk haunted him. He wanted to wipe it off with his fist, and no matter what, he'd fight for her, even if she was already gone.
Twenty minutes of back and forth fighting; He didn't notice the color return until he watched Killian's body get thrown to the side. That's when he saw Pepper, glowing fiery red and incredibly pissed. He didn't know which the highlight of his Christmas morning was, watching his girlfriend and soulmate kick Killian's ass in a sports bra, or being able to see in color again.
He didn't know what fear was like until he lost the color, and it took him a while to rid the nightmares of it happening again. Pepper helped him, of course, and while he tinkered on the Extremis, he was reminded of how much he loved her, how much he needed her, and how he couldn't live without her.
"Am I going to be okay?"
"No. You're my soulmate. Nothing will ever be okay."