S -Donât you dare take a picture!
T -Too late ! :D
S -Youâll regret that
T -Oh, Iâm sure I will!
Little spoiler from âThe spider and the Sorcererâ by WIX2
Totally in love in this fic!! Relationship between these three dorks is just pure gold!! PERFECT father-son relation between Tony-Peter and Stephan-Peter also Tony-Stephan best sass in history .. really, these two is perfect explosive material and I just looove it ! âĄ
28: pulling in someone by the waist for Ironstrange! đ
âWhat exactly are we looking for, Doc?â Tony asked as Stephen dropped the heavy tomes down on the table. He waved away the dust cloud that billowed in the air, one hand covering his mouth as his eyes watered.
âAnything that mentions the coming of the end. That was what the demon said with his dying breath wasnât it?â Stephen asked as he sat down on the bench beside Tony, taking half off the books and shoving them in front of the man.
âI thought he said unable to defend? Their powers transcend?â He wasnât cracking a joke, Tony was genuinely trying to work out what their enemy had told them while it died.
âFRIDAY? Can you replay the last few minutes of our slimy friendâs monologue?â Stephen asked, keeping an eye on Tony as the man yawned, rubbing the back of his hand across his eyes. This wasnât his usual slump from lack of sleep, Tony was beyond tired, exhaustion seeping from his skin, huge bags under his eyes that Stephen longed to soothe with his touch.
Their relationship wasnât like that, yet. Perhaps one day once things had settled down enough, but for now, the safety of their planet and their universe took priority. Theyâd been fighting hordes of demons sent through the cracks of the multiverse, and they knew nothing about the big bad behind them, the source of it all.
SHIELD had been throwing everything they had at it, working around the clock to try and pinpoint the next rift so they could position the Avengers as the front guard, while the Masters of the Mystic Arts kept any other threats at bay, trying to assist in the ways they could, trying to find the cause of the multiverse rift.
Tony had fought valiantly alongside his teammates, and Stephen could see the toll on his body. He wasnât as young as he once was, his insides mangled after the shrapnel and the radioactive battery shoved inside his chest cavity, but he still fought with everything he had.
FRIDAY projected a hologram onto the table. The demon looked almost like a Kree, but their skin was black oozing tar, with rounded ears and sharp teeth.
âHeâll kill you all,â the words bubbled out from his split lips. âItâs the coming of the end-â
âFRIDAY, shut it off, would you?â Tony managed to string the words together, waving a hand through the projection. âItâs the coming of the endâŚthat doesnât even make sense!â Stephen could see Tony wanted, needed sleep, watching the way his head kept drooping down towards the table like he didnât have the strength to even stay sitting, his fingers twitching as if seeing invisible equations he needed to solve.
âDo you want to go take a nap on the couch in my study? Or I could open a portal back to your bedroom?â Stephen prompted gently, the flicker of sadness he felt looking at Tony suddenly blooming into a crushing weight. Tonyâs eyes were devoid of their usual sparkle and he looked like he wanted to cry, but didnât have the strength to, his eyelids chafed from where he kept rubbing them. Glancing down at Tonyâs forearms he could see the bruises and cuts half-healed, the backs of his hands raw and his knuckles blistered from all the fighting.
âNah, Iâm good. I can sleep when weâve taken care of whoever is trying to kill us this time,â Tony tried to smile, the pale imitation of it knotting Stephenâs stomach, making him hunch over to try and relieve the pain.
He reached out, placing a shaking hand on top of Tonyâs. âWe will find out whoever is behind this. We will stop them.â
Tony flipped his hand over and squeezed once.
âYeah. Yeah, we can do this,â he told him with a tired huff, trying to draw strength from somewhere and failing. Unable to watch the man heâd grown to care about suffer, Stephen looked down at the huge books, steeling himself for what needed to be done.
The sounds of rustling pages filled the space between them, interrupted only by a stray bird cheeping as it called for its mate. Stephen shifted, trying to draw his attention to the wavering words on the page and not the sound of a scrabbling monkey climbing over the temple walls, looking for the offerings of food the students usually left out for him.
There has to be something here, Stephen pleaded with the ancient texts, pushing one aside on the table to reach for the next in his pile. We canât lose to them, not after we beat Thanos.
Sudden weight crashed into his side and he startled, a mandala forming instinctively in his hand as his body perceived a threat. Looking down, he saw Tony had slumped against him, losing the war against sleep.
Stephen became keenly aware of everything around him, the dry rasp of the dusky air stroking across the stone floors, the faint dings from the brass wind bells scattered throughout Kamar-Taj. Nudging the book aside, he tilted his body a little so Tony could rest comfortably, his hand meandering down to wrap around Tonyâs waist.
He might not look like it in the Iron Man suit, and in his expensive business suits, but feeling the trim waist beneath his hand only reinforced Stephenâs idea that the man was fragile, which was ridiculous considering how hard Tony fought, the powerhouse he was. His own perception was warping reality as he encouraged the man closer.
Tonyâs body gave up the fight of always being on guard, burning itself out in exhaustion, surrendering to Stephen, knowing he was safe.
Stephen listened to his heavy breaths, felt them against his neck in warm exhales, and he looked down at Tonyâs chest rising and falling, the movement lulling Stephen into a sense of calm, spreading out into his body in swirling filaments of tranquility.
Here in the sanctuary of Kamar-Taj, a moment could feel like an eternity, and even without the help of the Time Stone, he manipulated time to slow, elongating and stretching like sticky molasses, giving them both the reprieve they needed.
Stephen could do this one thing for him, he could give Tony a place to rest his head, could hold him and share his burden.
Later they would begin the fight for the world anew, but for now, the world only consisted of the two of them.
***
I hope you enjoyed it! Thank you for the prompt! It was a lot of fun to work on!
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