Or a man in an iron suit:
Pepper sat on the windowsill next to her bed and stared outside at the city lights. They were brighter than usual. Or bright enough for her to notice this time, she wasn't sure. Then she stared at the ground. Cars were rummaging by, some leaving a trail of gas behind them. Oh how she would enjoy seeing the rainbow puddles during her stroll tomorrow morning. Her gaze then shifted to the buildings. Her room was at the top of Stark tower so she had a pretty nice view. Some buildings were perfectly proportioned while others seemed to be shifting from side to side with the wind. She knew it was just her imagination but she kept it to herself secretly. Her eyes were steady on the sky now. The purple and pink gradient blew her away and she had never noticed how beautiful it was before. Then, she looked at the clouds. Some were rounder than others, while some looked like they had been left behind in their tracks by a plane.
Or a man in an iron suit.
She thought of Tony. He had been gone for a month or two now. Every morning she went downstairs to bring him his coffee even when she knew he wouldn't be there to receive it and thank her. And tell her she was beautiful. He was working on a contract somewhere in California, he said. She felt exhausted even though she knew she wouldn't sleep tonight either. She had learned to accept that. Some nights she would go to his room and step into his closet. She would pull on one of his numerous t-shirts just to feel his presence for a little while. It smelled of him and she felt her chest getting warmer where the arc reactor would have been if he was the one wearing it. Probably do to sentiment, that is. She was so used to that blue glow under his top that it made her sad to look in the mirror without seeing it. So she would take the shirt off and sit down next to it where her tears would soon follow. She was always terrified he would never come back or do something stupid. She felt stupid for feeling this way.
Some mornings were better, while others made her feel like she was drowning. There was nothing left to say before he left but Pepper always felt like she had forgotten to tell him something. Maybe it was because one time he left before she was able to say goodbye. That time he was held captive in Afghanistan. She hadn't felt that much pain in a while and that was even before they were together. She honestly wasn't even sure if they were together now. Tony was 'a complicated person'.
All she knew was that she missed him now. She knew she wanted him to come back. So she looked at the sky in hopes of seeing him fly by the tower to see her. He would come close enough to fog up the window and take off his helmet. They would both press their noses to the window and look in each other's eyes until he would finally decide to come inside.
But none of that was happening soon. Because Tony wasn't coming back soon.
So she sat there, her body empty of all emotion except for numbness. She thought she had learnt to deal with that until this moment. This moment where she realised she hadn't. She hadn't dealt with anything yet. Because if she had, she wouldn't be feeling this way. She wouldn't feel like she was constantly being pushed to the ground by a stranger with no face that never left her alone. She wouldn't feel like even after the stranger left, she was still bleeding out. She wouldn't feel anything for him.
But then as her eyes turned to the park down the block, she felt a second's worth of happiness. She saw the children running around the slide and pushing each other on the swings. Darker clouds rolled in and it started to rain. The little kids' screams filled her ears and she saw them run back to an apartment building. The swings stopped swinging and the slide was soon covered in the sky's tears. Soon there were puddles and people were kicking their bright colored boots in them and somehow, Pepper could hear their laughter whenever they were getting splashed. Umbrellas soon filled the city and gave it a sane look. The rain somehow made her feel like the world was healing. The icy sheets stopped falling and she knew it was now fixed.
The sun rolled back out, followed by bright colors in the sky. What used to be an early-evening sky was now a rainbow painted through a beautiful sunset. Her eyesight had turned the world topsy-turvy in a matter of minutes. She had painted a blank canvas and she was now finished.
The next day she was woken up by soft kisses on her shoulder. She had fallen asleep on the windowsill where she had dreamt all these things. Some pretty, some grotesque. But it didn't matter now because the rainbow was gone. The kids were playing in the park. She sat up on her bed to find a curious-eyed Tony waiting for her. She muttered what sounded like a ''hi'' and hugged him immediately. She was sure he noticed the dry tears on her cheeks because he brushed his fingers over them a few times in concern. She would have cared and explained if those words hadn't come out of his mouth just then.
"Did you miss me?"