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They are eroding. Nothing is colder than the diamond in her chest and nothing is hotter than the vibranium in Tony's and any contact between them sparks and scrapes and leaves them raw and bloody. She curls herself into Rhodey's side and they watch Tony break himself into pieces because the green beast that had saved her life has been missing for a week and Tony hasn't stopped screaming.
Charles can't hear him and Coulson can't feel him and Hulk isn't around to answer Hank's growls with roars and the mansion feels so empty to everyone but Pepper. She feels full, stomach bloating with happiness and anxiety of being back with Tony and Rhodey and the relief at being somewhere she belongs and the fear when Tony's eyes go blank and shimmer with silver.
Tony feels heavy. There's a hole at his core, the only hole he can't fill with the bitterness of iron and the sweetness of Bruce's love his power his existence because Bruce loves him he does he's going to come back they'll be okay he'll be okay nothing has to change only his bones but never his heart not again vibranium.
He lets scream after scream after blood flavored scream spill from his throat because when have Bruce and Hulk not answered his calls? But they don't come and he feels caught mid-mitosis, split down the middle, fractured into bits barely holding together and his heart vibrates so slow it's like he's dead.
He feels dead.
They watch as Tony twists himself away in an empty room, void of all he loves most in the world the only thing that won't leave him won't forget him to keep it from melting and crawling over his skin to encase him in an unbreakable shield. Pepper watches as the pipes in the walls groan and snap free and seep from the walls to trickle to the looming darkness of Tony's seclusion.
Thor and Alex and Rhodey are the ones who find him, body stiff and metallic and no one has to look at Hank to know that there's no heartbeat.
Pepper's kiss to his forehead leaves crystal stains and Bruce feels something snap in his chest.