He opens his eyes to orange.
“Tony?”
He blinks. Slowly, he sits up and looks around. It looks like he’s in a boxing ring… the whole room engulfed in an orange glow. He startles when he looks behind him and standing there, right in the middle of the ring, is Nat.
She looks exactly like the day he met her. Long, curly red hair and a tight-fitted pant suit. She stares at him inquisitively.
“What are you doing here?” she asks. “Did we win?”
It takes Tony a moment to remember where exactly he was before here. “…Yes.”
“What did it cost?”
You, Tony thinks, remembering Clint coming back from the quantum realm alone. The small, rushed funeral they had for her. We’ll have a proper one when we’ve made good on her sacrifice, Steve had promised. He also thinks of Morgan, who will grow up without a father now. Pepper, who will be a widow. He thinks of Peter, who he just got back and will now be unable to stay by his side. He thinks of Rhodey and Happy, his closest friends. The Avengers.
“Everything,” he answers honestly.
Nat has an unreadable expression. She glances around the empty room. “Was it worth it?”
Our lives, he knows she means.
He thinks of Clint, who has his entire family back now. The whole universe being reunited with their loved ones. He thinks about how Morgan actually has a future now, and a real one… not one in a half-world haunted by loss. He thinks about how Pepper has Morgan, and he didn’t leave her completely alone. Peter has his own family, and Tony rests easy knowing that the future of The Avengers is in good hands. Rhodey and Happy, everyone… they’re safe now. They’re safe from Thanos and his armies forever. It’s all he ever wanted.
“Yes.”
