Ever since I was a little girl,I've had three count downs on my right forearm . The count downs represented the time left before one met their soulmates. Three of them meant three soulmates. However only one seemed to progress while the other remained frozen. Hope grew over the years as the first one kept decreasing steadily.
I remember when i was 16, the break down i had when the first count down had turned Red. Red meant that the soulmate was in grave stayed that way for three months. For the duration of those three months,I would sometimes wake up,feeling a strange burn my chest,forcing me awake for hours.
After three tortuous months,the countdown turned green,the soulmate was safe,this time the time being cut in half. 1 month... I was to meet one of my soulmates in 1 month. I met him, a month later , served him coffee when i was working in a little cafe over in cali,where I wa staying over at a friends for the summer. He demanded that I should get my break and all but dragged me off.
Tony Stark had been born with two,frozen countdown on the inside of his left bicep. The third soulmate only appeared in the 90s but at the time ,he couldnt care less,he had been too busy partying and bedding men and women alike. He only took full conscience of that decreasing count down when he finally opened his eyes to the world,opened his eyes to all the chaos and destruction his weapons had lead to.
He could remember the day of their first meeting like it was yesterday. She had been 16 at the time, he couldnt harbor any other feelings other then friendship for her at the time. She became one of his most trustworthy friend , his rock,his confident. Granted, they didnt see each other that often,they would video chat often or he would go and visit her on a whim when he wasnt too busy. He had the chance to witness her slowly becoming a woman,a beautiful young woman.
He couldnt shake the look in her eyes when he invited her over to visit him after he almost killed himself via sending a nuclear nuke into a wormhole,in space. She had slapped him across the face as she cried her pretty eyes out and kissed him,which in her case was incredibly bold. She had never hinted that she had wanted more out of their soulbond,perhaps she thought she was too young or maybe not good enough for him. She was and so much more and he had felt like a piece of trash for making her cry like that. She then proceeded to stay glued to his side, his only company aside from Bruce. Everyone had left the tower to go to their own device,leaving only him,His sweet sweet Melody and Bruce.
After a night of romping in the sheets, the two of them noticed that the other two count downs had unfrozen. Her last two were now ticking at an average pace while Tony's third had started ticking. Tony's second had ended and showed Steve Rogers beside the 0s . Tony hadnt taken notice of that,it wasnt like Steve had said anything about it either. Perhaps the Capsicle didnt want anyone in the likes of Tony Stark as his soulmate. Even him wouldnt want himself as a soulmate.
He knew that he shouldnt have kept Melody with him when the Mandarin striked. He had her and Pepper,both pumped with the Extremis. He remembered how he could feel the burning in his veins, how she felt when her body tried to adapt itself. In the end,unlike Pepper, she decided to keep the Extremis. Even if he had disagreed at first, he felt more at ease since she had something to defend herself.
After the Mandarin however,even if she had the Extremis,he asked her to go to safety,not trusting himself with her life anymore. She cried,he had made her cry again. It tore his heart apart to see her like this but it was for the best.
There he was now,wounded, emotionally hurt by Steve's betrayal. He had known, he had fucking known that Barnes had killed his parents and didnt say a word. Tony had been pissed,raging even,he had seen red. Blows were exchanged.
The thing that stung the most was that his third count down had reached 0 and the name James Buchanan Barnes was written beside it. How come life was so cruel to him. Probably karma,he thought, after being a shitty person all his life, karma finally caught up to him.
He sat there,gently handling the phone Steve had left him along with his letter. His fingers itching to text him,call him, beg him to come back, to forgive him... but Tony's stupid pride got in the way.
Gentle,delicate hands came to rest on his shoulders. The familiar hands ran through his hair,manicured nails gently scraping along his scalp. He turned in surprise and was met with the beautiful sight that was his first soulmate. Her hair shorter, her face even more beautiful than it used to be. He finally felt the dam break as he folded into her, her protective arms wrapping around him instantly. He asked why she was so good to him, so patient; how she still loved him after all he did to her and to the people around him.
She didn't talk, her mere presence was enough. She wasnt always the one with words, but her actions often spoke volume of how she felt.
She kissed him softly, cupping his face, made him look into her eyes and he knew from this moment, things were going to get better.