There was a faint light appearing far in the distance. It seemed to shimmer and dance in front of his eyes. It was quite pretty, so far away. Tony blinked in the darkness and… was it his imagination or did the light get bigger? He blinked again. Definitely bigger this time. And actually, as he watched he could see its edges expanding ever so slowly. It was getting closer? A flicker of fear went through him. Was this the light at the end of the tunnel? Was this finally it?
There was a hint of a memory in there somewhere. An alien ship, another galaxy, unfamiliar constellations, a nuke. He had died there, he recalled distantly. This was not dissimilar from that experience at all.
The fear passed almost as quickly as it had arrived. There was nothing he could do, he was here now. If death was coming for him, let it take him. He was done.
The small light was not so small anymore. And if he looked closely, he thought he could make out different shades of light in it. Yes, there were definitely darker and lighter patches… colours even. How wonderful. The colours were swimming around, blending in and out of each other. It was almost like they were starting to form a picture, yes, was that a face? It had to be a face. Those were the eyes, and a mouth, and… it looked like Bruce? What was Bruce doing here? He wasn't dead, was he?
Now that he focussed, he could hear some noise coming from the bright world slowly filling his vision. The noise… did sound suspiciously like a voice. Bruce's voice. Saying... his name?
"…ony? Tony. Tony!"
He blinked back to a blindingly bright corridor, a shiny elevator door, and a concerned-looking Bruce leaning over him with mussed hair and glasses slightly askew. And then it came back to him. He pushed himself to a sitting position, hand shooting to his chest where his breath was already beginning to catch in his throat again. His eyes widened in fear.
"Hey, hey, Tony! It's okay, you're okay! Look at me." Hands grabbed his face roughly and turned it to look at the scientist kneeling over him. His hand scrabbled against his shirt, and his lungs seized every time he tried to draw air. The circle of light was starting to shrink back again, the edges blurring and darkening once more.
"Shit, shit. C'mon Tony." The hands let go of his face and his head rolled down towards his chest, world spinning wildly. His knees were being pushed roughly up towards his chest , then his head forced between them. And suddenly the lights of the corridor weren't there to blind him and there was only his feet and the floor beneath him. He could hear Bruce's rapid breathing beside him, loud in his ringing ears. He could hear him gulping down deep calming breaths, forcing his heartrate to slow, the breaths gradually becoming deeper and slower. And as he heard Bruce's breathing in his head, he felt himself breathing to match him, keeping pace automatically.
"That's it Tony. That's right. Just breathe. Just focus on my breathing."
He was okay. He was okay. As long as he could hear those deep steadying breaths, he would be okay.
