Sense of Being
This is my entry for the IronStrange Big Bang! I worked with @thesaintofbowlegs as my artist (stay tunned for the link to the art) and @drxgonstone as my beta.
So sorry for the delay, but I had a really busy day. First day of school an state over, flat shopping all afternoon, schoolwork...anyways, I made it, so, yay!
Thank you @ironstrangehq for putting this together for us!
Rating: Teen
Warnings: Not Team Cap friendly. Adult language.
Other tags: Humor. Fluff. Hurt/comfort. Supremefamily. Cloak ships it. Dum-E & Friday ship it. Peter ships it. They try to help. Team Cap being Dicks, as usual. Cloak & Dum-E teach them a lesson. Pranks.
Summary:
Relics are not something out of the ordinary in the lives of sorcerers. Sentient relics are more unique. But a relic that can express thoughts and emotions as the Cloak does? That's almost unprecedented. There is not much written about the Cloak of Levitation; which doesn't make easier for people to relate to them and understand them. The concept of an object not being a possession, but somewhat their own person is difficult to grasp for many; respect it, even more so.
The fact that Tony Stark, a man who hates everything related to the Mystic Arts didn't even blink when introduced to the Cloak is not something Stephen had the chance to think about when they met (end of the Universe and all that); but it certainly makes him curious now, after things are back to normal.
The contradictions that are part of the Golden Avenger make him even more interesting than he already is; more tempting than he should be. As Stephen and the Cloak start spending more time in the Compound in Tony’s workshop, that is his sanctuary, with his creations; and the two men start opening up to each other. What was only attraction quickly transforms into deeper feelings.
No one saw the implications of what letting Dum-E and the Cloak bond would mean. So really, you really can't blame this one only on Stephen.
Also, Stephen panics. But only minimally.
Read it on: AO3
Finally, the Sanctum was back to its gloomy pre-Hulk-through-the-roof state. Not that it was that time consuming or difficult, but Stephen and Wong had been preoccupied with other matters. Like ensuring the magical shields around the world still held strong and opening lines of communication with the Accords Panel and the Avengers. After Thanos and half the Universe disappearing and reappearing, the Order couldn’t really keep to themselves anymore. More and more threats were showing up every day; and often enough people combined technology with magic, or perverted mystical energy to gain more power. The danger was too big to be able to hide it now. Besides, having backup was actually a nice thing.
Still, many supers were weary of magic. Loki had done a lot to help clear his name; but still, the Avengers first impressions of ‘magic’ as a whole was through Loki and then Wanda Maximoff; both using it to cause harm to others. And while Loki had proved he was under torture and mental manipulation himself (the Mind Stone in Thanos possession was used); Maximoff didn’t had that defense (although she tried to use it, it wasn’t true); and people’s opinion varied a lot from place to place. The world was a bit skeptical, and the hero community even more so. The Panel was logical enough, but Stephen would much rather deal with Rhodes, Danvers or Stark. The meetings at the Avengers Compound were as good an excuse as any to go out, and they provided more than enough social interactions. Many were dull or tense (politicians were really the same in pretty much everywhere and some members were too irritating to talk to for long periods of time); but the Spider kid, Peter, was a delight to spend time with. He was endearing in his awkwardness and was really curious and open to everything Stephen showed him. Besides, he was smart. The kid would grasp concepts really fast and would be an excellent apprentice (if Stephen wasn’t sure Stark would ban him if he thought he was teaching the child magic). The man’s dislike and caution for any type of magic was well known and the Doctor couldn’t really blame him.
Banner and Stark were also very good company. It had been a while since Stephen had indulged in conversation for the pure science of it. He wasn’t studying the Mystic Arts to battle a threat; he was just…chatting with smart people about concepts most humans wouldn’t understand. Peter often joined them, and the kid could relate any topic they were discussing to other things he already knew, rambling about this and that until he noticed and stopped, blushing; to the amusement of the adults.
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Stephen knew Peter’s intentions were good, but he wished the kid had asked permission before ambushing him with a party.
The teenager had come to visit (as he often did) a day after he and Wong finally ended with the repairs. They had spent a few hours in the library, Peter jumping around like a puppy, going from one relic to the other, asking what they do, who they belonged to, if they were sentient or not and a million other questions. He had turned and asked the Cloak about a hundred things when Stephen told him there were only three registered sentient relics, and only the Cloak was ‘awake’. Those two getting along so well really warmed his heart. It was nice to see Peter’s childish glee when the Cloak took him flying and the Cloak was shivering in excitement the whole time.
When he had to leave to start his patrolling of the city, Peter had asked why he was allowed into the library this time; and when the sorcerer told him why, he had glowed. He started mumbling a mile a minute, about house warming presents (despite the fact that Stephen had lived here for years already) and that a plant could actually ‘live-up’ the place a little, etc. Stephen gave up trying to interrupt him after a few moments and only waved goodbye (along the Cloak, who had given Peter a long hug) when the teen left. He had sighed and turned around with a smile on his face, only to see Wong standing at the end of the stairs.
“That’s going to bite you in the ass,” deadpanned the librarian, before leaving. Strange shared a glance with the Cloak, but they only give him a shrug, so he decided not to take it seriously. After all, he doubted a plant would be that much trouble.
He should’ve known better.
The teen had gone all out for the ‘housewarming party’. He had decorated the stairs, windows, even the ceiling. He had set a table with a lot of food (probably the only reason Wong wasn’t portalling him to an undesirable destination were those delicious deli sandwiches) and even put together a playlist (the Beyoncé songs probably helped too, now that Stephen thinks about it). He had invited people over (a small number, all of them who had been in the Sanctum previously, which both sorcerers appreciated); neither of which was surprised about the fact that the hosts of said party had no idea it was planned.
Going by the mischievous smile on Stark’s face, the Doctor bet Peter’s mentor had indulged this. After all, there was no way a teen without a (paying) job could buy all this food and drinks (some of which were alcoholic, although the soda and juice selection was large too). As of right now, Wong was in deep conversation with Rhodes and Banner and Peter was being dragged around the ‘dance floor’ by Carol and Hope, red as a tomato.
The engineer was standing beside the food table and …conversing with the Cloak? They had dropped Stephen on his ass when the sudden music made the sorcerer appear in the first floor of the Sanctum. The Cloak had launched themselves to the dance floor to ‘show their moves’, and Stephen barely had time to slow down his descent and save some of his pride. Traitorous piece of fabric.
Sighing, the Doctor got up from his seat and walked towards Stark. When the other man saw him a smile spread across his face and the Cloak shook in laughter and dodged him as they flew away. Shaking his head, Stephen let a reluctant smile spread across his lips for a moment. Then he realized the brunette was staring at him and he returned his face to neutrality.
“Capricious, aren’t they?” Stark said, pointing at the Cloak with a tilt of his head. Stephen give himself a few moments to get over his shock.
“They?” he asked, confused. The engineer gave him a funny look and lifted eyebrow.
“Well, yes. Or is it he?” he paused and when the sorcerer didn’t respond, he continued “She? I didn’t want to assume, you know.”
Stephen didn’t answer because he was thinking. Relics were not something out of the ordinary in the lives of sorcerers. Sentient relics were more unique. But a relic that can express thoughts and emotions as the Cloak does? That's almost unprecedented. There was not much written about the Cloak of Levitation; which doesn't make easier for people to relate to them and understand them. The concept of an object not being a possession, but somewhat their own person is difficult to grasp for many people; respect it, even more so.
The fact that Tony Stark, a man who hates everything related to the Mystic Arts didn't even blink when introduced to the Cloak is not something Stephen had the chance to think about when they met; but it certainly makes him curious now.
“Strange?” a hand was in his field of vision, and Stark was looking at him with worried eyes. Stephen shook himself off the zone he was in and gave him a grimace.
“Sorry, just thinking.”
“Just thinking? Jeez, you scared me.” Breathed out the engineer, relaxing. “Also, I don’t buy that you were just ‘thinking’. We discuss science and magic and science all the time, and you never zone out like that.”
“It’s just…you surprised me, that’s all.” The Doctor says, smiling a bit.
“Surprise you…? Oh, because Levi and I get along?” he asks, suddenly all smiles. “They have an excellent sense of humor. Much better than some assholes I know, really-”
“Levi?” Stephen repeats, not able to contain himself. “You gave them a nickname?” he asks, incredulous.
“…yes?” Stark answers, not understanding. “I mean, giving nicknames to people is kind of my thing, you know? And saying ‘the Cloak’ or ‘the Cloak of Levitation’ over and over is such a drag. ‘Cloaky’ is another nickname; although they seem to like ‘Levi’ more.”
Stephen didn’t say anything for a while, trying to come up with something to say. It wasn’t often that the Sorcerer Supreme was left speechless, but it figures that the one to do it would be the so called ‘Golden Avenger’.
“You keep surprising me, Stark. Not many people consider the Cloak as their own being, and those who do never treat it as…well, as a person. And given your experiences with magic, I guess I never expected you to be one of them.”
“Well, I thought, if they were smart enough to know quality and slap me in the ass…” Tony winked, laugh dancing in his eyes. And what an ass, the thought suddenly entered his head and he cleared his throat, the back of his neck suddenly on fire.
“Yes, well…” Stephen grabbed a glass of lemonade to cool him down a bit. Usually, when he was attracted to people, he noticed right away, because it was mostly on a physical level. But Stark? He was certainly handsome, with those doe eyes and fluffy hair (and if he took those words from the post Peter read to him, sue him, because they fit) but also…also, he was intelligent and a sarcastic little shit and could totally sass you to dead. He effortlessly kept up with Stephen, and he was full of contradictions. Stephen was a little afraid of admitting it, but he was…infatuated with the man. God help him.
“Also” the engineer interrupted him “if I can create sentient living and thinking beings out of codes and technology; why couldn’t magic do the same? For all I knew, Levi was Wong’s and your brainchild.” Stephen choked on the sip he had taken, and coughed until he was red in the face.
When the sorcerer got his breath back, he saw Stark leaning back against the table and smirking at him. You could just tell he had timed his phrasing just so Stephen would choke. That little- But before he could say anything, or finish another thought, the other man started speaking.
“Come on, I want you to meet a few people.” He just started walking, not glancing back to see if the sorcerer was behind or not. Still Stephen followed him. “Think you can make a portal to the Compound? I don’t want to take the car and leave Rhodey and the kid without means for transportation. Besides, I promised Happy a few free hours.”
“I thought you didn’t want me to portal inside your Compound.”
“I usually wouldn’t, but I already let FRIDAY know that we might be dropping by, through magical taxi.”
“Please don’t call it that.” Still, Stephen took his Sling Ring out of his robes and put it on. As soon as he did, though, the Cloak came rushing in, enveloping him and making him stumble a little. “Oh, there you are. Bailed on somebody else, uh?” he asked, mock-offended. The Cloak patted him on the cheek as an apology and Tony just smiled, waiting. Stephen sighed and opened the portal in the kitchen of the Compound.
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Tony (and he was Tony now, the man himself had asked Stephen to call him that instead of ‘Stark’) had offered the sorcerer something to eat and/or drink as soon as they finished walking through the portal; as if they hadn’t just been in a party with an impressive catering.
When Stephen refused they moved along to the elevator and got in. After some throughout checks, it started moving- downwards. Stephen had been on the open labs, a sort of ‘communal space’ for the scientists of the Avengers, and they were impressive. But he had also heard a lot about Tony’s private workshop/lab; where only a handful of people were allowed in (Rhodes, Ms Potts, Harley and Peter were pretty much it; unless Bruce and Tony were working in a specific project). He was surprised to be heading there, to be honest. Even when they were talking through some ideas for the new line of medical equipment and prototypes SI had been developing and discussing what was already in market and how it could be improved upon; it was always in the communal labs. The Doctor never took offence to that, because he didn’t invite (often, Peter was an exception) to the Sanctum, even less to the library. But before he had the chance to ask Tony what they were about to do (or who they were about to meet, more precisely), the doors opened and Stephen was awestruck.
The place was stunning. Stephen couldn’t help himself as he entered; walking further and further into the workshop. From an aesthetic and scientific perspective; the whole room was full of wonders. Three dimensional holograms, data of all kinds filling the screens, armor and prototypes and so many wonderful things. There was much else that he didn’t understand, of course, as his specialty wasn’t engineering, electronics or computer coding (or any of the seven PhDs the man had).
But the most beautiful thing about the place wasn’t what Stephen could see, but what he could feel. There was an energy emanating from every inch of the room: chaotic but controlled, maniac but creative and so, so joyful. This was a Sanctum all on its own, this was Tony’s sanctuary. Stephen could understand why the man would allow only the closest people to him to enter. And whatever he had done to deserve the invitation, he would try and do it again.
(It was a mystery how people could be so wrong about something as obvious as this was. ‘It’s a dangerous place when he loses himself in it.’ Said Romanoff. ‘So secretive, who know what kind of shit he’s doing down there?’ Barton spat. ‘I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to deal with another of his hand-made monsters’ added Maximoff, grinding her teeth. Rogers opted not to say anything, even if his face showed just how disappointed he was not to be invited along Rhodey, Peter and Vision, as they walked to the elevator).
“So?” Tony asked, shaking the Doctor from his thoughts. “What do you think?”
“I…I think this place is amazing, Tony. I just…have no words.”
“Wow. That much, uh? I knew you guys lived in the Stone Age, but I didn’t think your reaction would surpass Barnes’.” He joked.
“It’s not the tech that has me without words, Tony, it’s…you.” Stephen caught the blush on the engineer’s face and winked at him, which made the blush spread further. So pretty…he thought, then interrupted himself by explaining: “The amount of energy emanating from this place is so great I’m not sure why I never felt it before. It makes me want to smile, to be honest. The pure joy you must feel creating, for it to feel that way.” The blush on Tony’s cheeks deepened even more, but the genius talked before he could continue.
“Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “Well! I actually wanted to introduce you to...where are you, buddy?” he called, looking around. A beeping sound came from right behind Stephen, and he and the Cloak (who so far had been basking in the energy of the room) jumped, turning around and taking defensive positions. What Stephen saw next was…not at all what he expected (but then, this whole day had been full of surprises courtesy of Tony Stark, so why should he even try to guess what was going to happen). A big metal…machine, with an arm? Claw? Holding a fire extinguisher was looking at them both through a camera, moving it this way and that, taking them in, as it continued beeping curiously.
“Please don’t kill my son. He might be useless as a bucket,” the beeping went low and sad at this, at the same time the claw moved down “but he’s still family.” Another beep came from the machine as it moved forwards, towards the engineer that opened his arms with a smile and patted the arm. “His name is Dum-E.”
The Cloak came off Stephen’s shoulders at that, floating cautiously towards the machine. They poked the metal and scurried off when Dum-E tried to grab them.
“Dum-E, seriously?” the Sorcerer asked, watching transfixed as the Cloak and the machine circled one another, poking and lightly touching each other, like in a game.
“Hey. I was 17 and drunk off my ass when I first turned him on. He didn’t respond so I…might have insulted his motherboard. The next morning, when he did respond, the only name that he would listen to was that one.”
“I suppose your professors weren’t much impressed with that.”
“Oh, they were impressed alright. By the AI, not by the name.” Tony said, snorting.
A high pitched beep caught their attention. The Cloak had decided to envelop Dum-E and the poor thing couldn’t see.
“Levi! Careful, yeah? He needs the lens to see. The dark scares him.” Tony explained, as the Cloak backed off. The Cloak-Levi, seemed ashamed. “Oh, don’t worry. He’s okay, right Dum-E?” the beeping from the AI, the Cloak cheered up.
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They spent hours on the lab, just talking and working and seeing Levi and Dum-E become friends. They both had similar taste in humor, constantly play-pranking each other.
It was probably by this instance when they should have realized that those two spending so much time together wasn’t going to end well.
But as smart as they were, neither Stephen nor Tony saw the consequences coming.
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It was already pretty late when Tony’s stomach growled in hunger and they finally checked the time. The Doctor was surprised at the hour: ten pm. Wong must be worried, or at least irritated with him, for skipping on his duties without notice. They decided to head to the kitchen to get a bite first, and then Stephen and Levi would leave for the Sanctum. But Dum-E let out a pitiful noise at the thought of leaving his new friend out of his sight; so Tony agreed to let him follow them to the kitchen, the AI beeping excitedly the whole way.
While Tony set them up with some quick sandwiches, Stephen washed the used utensils and returned the ingredients to their place with a few flicks of the wrist.
“Practical.” Smirked Tony, amused.
“Don’t tell Wong about it. He…disapproves of using our skills in such manner.” Tony snorted, because he was pretty sure he saw Wong that same day throwing some things to the trash can via magic; but said nothing.
After they were through with their food the genius offered him a smoothie. Just as he was about to decline, the Cloak went rigid behind him and Stephen, in reaction, tensed too. A second later Barton and Maximoff came into the room, stopping when they saw that it was already occupied. Instead of leaving though, they continued on; the witch to the fridge and the archer hopped on the counter, insolence pouring off him in waves.
“Heard there was a party today.” Barton said, taking an apple from the plate on the counter and biting into it. He chewed absurdly loud for a few moments, maintaining what he obviously thought was a mean glare, and then carried on: “Curious. I wasn’t invited. Neither was Wanda, Natasha, Sam or Steve.” He finished the sentence looking at Tony’s direction, like daring him to deny it.
The engineer just rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.
“That’s what happens when you are an asshole to everyone; I suppose.” he said, sighing.
“You would know, wouldn’t you?” Barton sneered, taking another bite.
“Maybe, but at least I own up to my behavior.”
“Right,” Maximoff interrupted; “like you didn’t convince the only magic user apart from me on the team to not let me put a foot inside his ‘Sanctum’” she spat, eyes throwing poison.
“It is not ‘mine’ and you know why you can’t ‘put a foot inside’ the Sanctum, Ms Maximoff. We give you a chance to learn how to use your powers properly, but you declined.” A pause. “Rather vehemently.”
“You wanted me to go live in China to get rid of me! And you wanted to control my powers, like that collar did.”
There was an uncomfortable pause in the kitchen, while both geniuses looked at each other with incredulity. Levi was also glaring at the witch, not the she could tell.
“…Nepal is a country on its own right, Maximoff.” Tony said, slowly. The woman blushed, but pushed through.
“That’s not the point! The-”
“-the point is that we refused to treat you in a special way, and you threw a tantrum that destroyed some pieces of furniture and part of the common room in the East Wing.” Strange finished, in a dry tone.
“How are the payments for that going, by the way?” Tony asked, because he knew that all the Rogues (minus Lang, cause he actually has a brain sometimes) were pitching in to pay for the damages; even if it was only her fault.
Wanda sneered and opened her mouth to spit threats at the same time red sparks came off her fingertips; when white foam filled her mouth and covered her whole. There was a shocked, thick silence for a few moments, before a cheery ‘beep’ from Dum-E broke it and both men started laughing; while Barton passed the woman a kitchen rag to wipe the foam off.
“What the fuck is that thing, Stark? Another murder robot with a savior complex?” the archer asked, glaring at the bot.
“This is Dum-E, my first AI. And even though he is not as advanced as JARVIS or FRIDAY; I’m pretty sure he is more mature than you.”
“Oh, fuck you, Stark.”
With that, Barton led Maximoff out of the kitchen. Tony and Stephen turned to watch them go.
“Thing is, I’m pretty sure that Dum-E was just trying to help and avoid a fire.” The engineer said, fighting against the smile that wanted to spread across his face. Stephen snorted.
Behind them, Levi was offering a border of their fabric to Dum-E; to seal their pact.
FRIDAY could have probably said something. But she didn’t, because she didn’t appreciate the comparison between Ultron and her brother. Especially when the only creator of Ultron that did never pay for her part was involved.
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The Cloak is pouting again; if you can call it that. They are following Stephen around the Sanctum (Levi does not usually do that, unless there’s nothing else to do and/or the Doctor needs help with something); but in a slow manner, dragging their edges along the floor, collar down. Sighing, of all things. They seem sad.
Thing is, Stephen knows why. He and Wong had been watching the news on his laptop, when a report on how Tony Stark and his newest protégés are doing as of late (with the Rogues back in the States; despite the people’s displeasure with them) came on; and Levi had whooshed in to watch it in a second. Stephen was actually gonna watch that segment; because he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the other man the whole week and him picking Peter’s brain to know how the other was doing was getting obvious and ridiculous.
But Wong had looked at him, and so Stephen had closed that window and opened Spotify, to play some Beyoncé songs that would improve the other man’s mood. The Cloak had tried to pull his arm away, but it was already too late. Levi had tried to change it back, but Stephen had scolded them and slapped the fabric away. The Cloak had looked scandalized and hurt, but stopped. Instead, they had followed him all day, behaving pitifully, glancing his way and sighing, still looking hurt.
Stephen was sure it was all a ruse, but he couldn’t stop feeling a little guilt. So, after finishing the book he was reading, he came to a decision.
“Fine, you childish thing; I’ll take you to the Compound so you can make sure he’s fine.” The Cloak had looked up at that, and threw themselves at Stephen, enfolding him in the vibrating fabric. The Doctor allowed the hug and gave them a few pats before shaking them off and putting on his Sling Ring.
He opened a portal a few hundred feet away from the main building, in one of the many green areas. Tony had allowed him to open portals in his property, but never inside the building; except for the day of the party. He claimed that when he was sleep-deprived he couldn’t be accountable for attacking someone that showed up from nowhere. (Stephen hadn’t listened and often portaled himself in the building anyways; until the time he lost a good chunk of his hair to a repulsor beam, to Wong’s and Tony’s amusement. He had never done that again.)
But Levi didn’t immediately fly away, as Stephen was expecting. Instead it twisted around his arm and dragged him to the automatic doors, which opened as the same time FRIDAY greeted them.
“Welcome back, Dr. Strange. Boss is in his workshop, if you want to talk to him. I’m sure Dum-E will be very pleased to spend time with Levi again.” Said garment shivered in excitement, but kept dragging the Doctor through the building towards the elevator.
“Hello, FRIDAY. Actually, I- wait, I have authorization to go to his private lab?” Stephen asked, puzzled.
“Boss added you and Levi to the list of approved people after your visit last week.”
“Figures,” the voice startled Stephen and he turned to see he had entered the living room where a few of the Avengers were present, and they were all looking at the picture Levi and he presented; “the whacky wizard Stark barely knows gets an invitation; but his teammates from years are not allowed to go down the elevator.” Barton finished, spitting out the words.
“Clint, come on.” Bruce says. He was sitting in the couch besides Vision, looking at a Stark Tablet. “That’s not fair.”
“You are allowed into Tony’s workshop?” Romanoff asks, changing her posture from lush against the arms of the loveseat to sitting upright. “That’s an interesting development.”
“Is it?” the archer continued from where he was sitting on the floor. “I feel like it is only natural: two know-it-all, ‘great facial hair’ douchebags get along; what a surprise!” the man had obviously been drinking, even if it was only early afternoon.
“Clint, please stop.” Rogers interferes before the other man can say something that will get him in trouble. Harassment of a team member is something the Council is not in favor of, surprisingly. The reason Wong won’t come around often? He got tired of Barton’s ‘jokes’ and Romanoff mocking demeanor and dumped them in a frozen lake in Alaska (unfortunately the lake wasn’t completely frozen, so when he eventually transported them back they were all wet and cold). The Council had no way of discipline Wong because he hadn’t signed the Accords and witnesses had pretty much agreed they deserved it; so they had asked him not to send team members to possible crippling places in the future. Wong had decided it was easier for ‘decent people’ to come to him in the Sanctum and had reduced his visits (also, the ‘Rogues’ tended to disappear pretty quickly when he came by). “When did this happen, Strange?” he asked instead, like he hoped he could do the same and get an invite also.
“I bet it was when Ultron’s younger brother attacked Wanda with the fire extinguisher.” The archer muttered.
“My brother is in no way related to the entity you refer as ULTRON.” FRIDAY suddenly interrupted. “He was trying to prevent a fire or some other ‘accidents’ that tend to happen when the Scarlett Witch throws a tantrum.” Her voice was cold and flat, demeaning. No one in the room could exactly call foul play, because this common room had been refurnished pretty much entirely from the last of her ‘accidents’. Levi shook in laughter, remembering.
To avoid any other uncomfortable interactions, Bruce passed the tablet at Vision and got up.
“Come on, Strange; I have something to show Tony too.” Together they walked to the elevator and Levi seated themselves on Stephen shoulders.
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Turns out, Bruce was just removing himself from a tense situation and had nothing to show to Tony; so he just stood as Stephen and Levi left the elevator and FRIDAY took him to the cafeteria.
Stephen was a little apprehensive to just show up unannounced with no real reason to be there (there wasn’t an emergency, or a project to work on, or heck, an open invitation). It was one thing to portal Levi and leave them to their own devices and another thing entirely to just barge in uninvited. Still, as soon as the doors opened Peter greeted them warmly.
“Doctor Wizard! Levi! Come one in!” the teen said, as he kept throwing a bouncy ball to the wall and jumping to catch it before Dum-E could, much to the robot’s displeasure. Levi whooshed in and joined them, catching the ball before even Peter could.
“Strange?” said Tony, who was under a car. He rolled out and got up, cleaning his hands on his t-shirt. “Oh, great! You brought Levi back. Dum-E has been moping all around the place the whole week.” He joked, amused at the party behind them.
“Yes, well, he wasn’t the only one.” Stephen said “Levi amped up the pitiful act to eleven so I’d open a portal here.”
“Wow. You didn’t want to come back that badly?” Tony joked, although his warm brown eyes seemed sad all of the sudden.
“No! I mean, yes, I wanted to come back, but I…didn’t know if I was welcomed.” Stephen said, blushing. Tony seemed amused by the response, but that smile reached his eyes again, so the Doctor counted that as a win. The engineer turned to one of the screens and started to shut down some things as he continued the conversation.
“You have an open invitation, Doc.” He said, winking. “I was about to take a shower in my rooms, if you want to join me?” he asked, distracted.
“My, how forward of you, Tony” Strange teased, arching one eyebrow. The genius snorted out a laugh.
“Sorry, was distracted. I mean I am going to my room to shower and want to know if you prefer to stay here with the kids or go up with me and wait for me and then maybe, I don’t know, have a drink?” he rephrased, looking at Stephen from beneath his eyelashes.
This man is truly a menace, the Sorcerer thought. A joyful scream made them both jump, and both turned to watch Levi and Dum-E trying to catch Peter this time.
“I think I will join you, yes.”
“FRIDAY, love, try to let them not completely destroy my lab?” Tony asked, as they walked out.
“I’ll try, Boss; but I make no promises.” She wisely answered.
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Unbeknown to both of them; the two AIs, the relic and the teenager were planning how to get revenge on the Rogues. No one should compare Dum-E to ULTRON twice and get away with it. Not on Peter’s watch. (Also, they might be gossiping about how Dr Strange and Mr. Stark make the cutest couple).
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After that night, visits happened more often. Even with their tight schedules, their…friendship developed rapidly. Although friendship might not be the right word. It almost seemed they were…courting each other, old as that term was. (Wong certainly seemed to think that, as well as Rhodes, who had given him a terrifying version of the ‘shovel talk’ that Stephen prefers not to think about).
Tony passed by when he could, but even when he couldn’t, or wasn’t even in the country or heck, the continent, he sent something to be delivered to the Sanctum. Either sweets, or books or some clothing item that he think would look good on Stephen. Wong had been irritated until the deliveries brought food, and now was all for it, eagerly receiving the people at the door. Much to the Doctor’s amusement, whenever those items weren’t food, they would end thrown in a corner until he found them, and Wong would be in a bad mood for the rest of the day.
Probably the sweetest of all those presents was the vinyl music collection of ABBA that Tony had sent him. He remembered their talk that first night they spent drinking in Tony’s room. Stephen had confided him how much he missed to be able to go home and relax to the sound of this music; because even if he had the songs on Spotify’s playlist it…just wasn’t the same as hearing them from vinyl.
He also remembered Tony’s confession about how much he missed the cooking of Ana, Jarvis’. The pair had raised him while working for his father, basically, and his favorite Hungarian food was difficult to come by. By chance or by fate, Stephen had helped a Hungarian family in the neighborhood to get rid of some nasty demons a few months back; and when he asked the Mrs. Varga for some Pörkölt she was very happy to do so (said something about him being too alone) for him.
The smile that the engineer gifted Stephen when he the Sorcerer presented him with the stew was how he knew that he was totally lost. He had fallen in love with Tony Stark. (Again).
Crap.
{---{---{---}---}---}
The Sorcerer had no idea why he was behaving as a pubescent kid, but his panicking started almost two weeks ago and showed no signs of stopping. Since his realization Stephen had been avoiding going to the Compound. He guessed it had something to do with seeing himself falling in love with the genius in thousands and thousands of alternate universes. And being witness to how beautiful their relationship could become; or how painful it could end.
So, he only appeared in the building for Avengers meetings and prior commitments, which he didn’t bother to re-make, all to avoid going there and seeing the man he desperately wanted to see. Fortunately, he did had work to do, and that stopped him from thinking too much about the genius that had taken hold of his heart. Guarding their reality was a taxing job at times; and whenever that didn’t keep him occupied, there were hundreds of books and spells that he has yet to learn.
Levi, however, had been going there more and more. At first he had bothered Stephen or Wong until either of them opened a portal for they to go through; but the Doctor had been vehemently refusing to do so for days, and Wong had gotten tired of being used as a taxi service. Nonetheless, after Peter passed by one day and offered to take Levi swinging, the Cloak often waited for him. If the teen had to cancel, Levi gave a full-body sigh and flew there themselves.
Levi still tried to convince him to stay a bit longer whenever they had to show up at debriefings, but Stephen had less and less reason to. The last couple of meeting had been filled with complaints from the Rogues about cold showers, tampered leftovers, color-changing shampoo, missing underwear and other things. The Rogues were convinced that someone on the new roaster was playing pranks on them, but after Stephen had cast a truth bonding spell on all new members and found no culprit, they had turned on one another.
It had been amusing the first few times (Rhodes, Peter and Carol were certainly laughing); but it was getting more and more tiresome as things escalated to full-bodied brawls and a ´prank war´ that had no respect for other people. When his cellphone started ringing and he saw it was Peter he answered in a heartbeat; the kid had only texted him so far, never called.
“Peter? Is everything okay?” he asked, already up.
“…I’m not Peter.” Tony answered.
“Why are you calling from his phone?” Stephen asked, suspicious.
“I figured you wouldn’t answer if it was my number. And anyways, I’m calling from the kid’s phone because he broke mine!” he yelled (the Doctor supposed it was to said teen, and this was confirmed when he heard a high pitched ‘Dum-E did it!’ and then ‘He rolled over it because you took it from me and threw it to the other side of the room!’ on the other side).
“Alright. And this has to do with me because…?”
“Oh, did I forget to mention Levi is here with us?” at Stephen’s groan Tony continued “Believe me, this has everything to do with you.”
{---{---{---}---}---}
The Doctor had taken a few minutes to gather himself. He changed into a proper attire and styled his hair a bit. He was nervous. Usually Levi was there whenever he needed someone to distract him or cheer him up; but right now, they were the reason he was being forced to see Tony. Could he still call him Tony, after two weeks of silent treatment for no reason? He hoped so. Maybe this was a good thing, after all. He had to mend their relationship, even if after his stupid panic Tony only offered him friendship.
Now even more nervous; he put on his Sling Ring and opened a portal to the Avengers’ living room, as instructed.
“You sure took your sweet time to get your ass here, Strange.” Barton said in a mocking tone. “Too busy looking in the mirror?”
“Too busy closing doorways into other dimensions that morons such as yourself open and don’t know how to close.” He responded, not missing a bit. He had been doing that earlier in the day. Also, he was done with this man’s attitude.
“Well, your magic cape has been taking our stuff and poisoning us for weeks! Did you order it to do it?” Maximoff snapped from the other side of the room. Now that Stephen turned, he saw the state of the living. It was a disaster.
“One, I can’t order them like some kind of mindless dog. Two, Levi is their own person. Three, Levi is a Cloak. And fourth…I had no idea that was happening. I honestly thought one of you reversed to the mentality of a kindergarten brats (not that it would take much, but still).”
“Oh, you fucking prick-”
“Stop.” The sharp voice belonged to Tony, and Stephen immediately lowered his hands, that went up in position when the archer took the first step forward. “All of you, out.” At the glares of the Rogues, he stood his ground and glared back. “Out. Stephen is responsible for Levi and I am responsible for Dum-E and Peter. These are pranks from children, so we will treat them like that. You have no part in this.”
“We were the ones that had to-” Rogers started.
“Did I ask for your opinion, Rogers? No. Now, as your commanding officer, I am ordering you to leave this area.”
The tension grew exponentially, and it seemed that a real battle would unfold in the middle of the living room, but the redhead spy put her hands on the arms of Barton and Rogers and they shared a long look. Finally, they left the area.
A few moments of silence followed, and Stephen could see the tension leaving Peter’s body along with Levi’s, and even Dum-E lifted his claw a bit. But before Stephen could say anything or ask anything; Tony walked towards the sofa and plummeted on it; supporting his elbows on his knees and hiding his face on his hands. He looked so…tired and defeated. Stephen would have sat down beside him and offer him comfort, but the truth was; he didn’t know if he was allowed to do that anymore.
“Tony?” he asked softly, trying not to startle the man and get his stress higher. “Wha-”
“Did you had to do that!?” he yelled, making everyone in the room jump. The kids (and yes, Stephen was totally including an ancient relic in the bag, seeing as they pranked the Rogues like a child would) looked guilty and ashamed. “Did you had to put bugs in Wilson’s leftovers, and replace Maximoff’s talcum powder with itchy powder” Tony got up and walked to the window, showing his back to the rest of the room; his whole body was trembling with rage “and steal all of Barton’s underwear and-and die Captain America’s hair r-red, white and-and bl-blue?” at this last part he burst out laughing; having to support himself on the glass not to fall to the floor.
Peter and Stephen were left gaping at him, not believing their eyes. Levi remained still for a minute, before he started to shiver in the way they did when something was terribly funny to them. Dum-E, watching his friend, gave a hopeful ‘beep’ that took Peter out of his stupor.
“Mr. Stark!” he screamed, smiling. “I thought you were mad at us!” he mocked-accused.
“Oh, I totally am mad at you.” The genius said, wiping tears away. “And me and May will totally punish you.” Peter stilled again, incredulity and fear seeping out of him. “But what’s done it’s done, and I can at least enjoy it a bit, can’t I?” he smirked.
“Boss, I think-” FRIDAY started, but Tony interrupted her.
“Oh, don’t you think I don’t know what you did. Covering for them and lying (to me)?”
“I have no idea what you are talking about, Boss.”
“Of course you do. I am sure you helped them.”
“Boss-”
“-As I am also sure you saved me some pictures and embarrassing videos, right baby girl?”
“…That might be a correct assumption.”
Tony laughed a bit more at that, before sighing and sitting down on the sofa again. Stephen hadn’t moved since the genius’ first outburst, but he shook his head to clear it (somehow this seemed weirder than the ‘Pet-Vengers’ dimension he had closed this morning).
“That’s it?” he asked, disbelieving. “You are not going to-”
“To what? Yell at them some more? I scared the crap out of them already.” He answered briskly. “And there will be punishments. Just…not right now. Right now, I’m enjoying this feeling.”
“Feeling of what?”
“Victory.” He paused. “Or something like it. It feels good either way.”
“Ton-”
“Besides, look at them!” Tony exclaimed, interrupting him; it was clear he didn’t want to listen to Stephen very much. The genius pointed at the trio of troublemakers that were playing once more. “They are proud of what they did.”
“All the more reason to lecture them. Maybe the Rogues had it coming, but that’s no reason to just let them get away with it.” Stephen didn’t know why he was even fighting this. He supposed there should be one responsible adult in the room; but why did it have to be him? The last thing he wanted to do right now was fight with Tony.
“I will lecture Dum-E, but at this point I don’t think it’ll matter. He’s had thirty years to learn how to be stubborn and ignore me, really. I will forbid visits from Levi for two weeks, though, that’s the only punishment I can think of that will hit him.” By the sad and angry beeps coming from the other side of the room, the AI had heard them and wasn’t pleased with the news. “Don’t look at me like that, mister.” Tony said firmly. “Peter, come here.” he called. The teen looked like a deer in headlights, and walked slowly towards them, twisting his hands together.
“Mr. Stark?” he hesitantly asked.
“I will call May and tell her what you did-” Peter opened his mouth to protest “-shut it, this is for the adults to decide on. You do deserve a punishment, for lying to me and causing so much damage. I can say, for my part, that your training sessions will be on stand-by for a time, while you help clean and repair the mess that is our living room. I am sure your Aunt will think of something else to add to your penance.” The teen had lowered his eyes once more but raised his head when his mentor called his name again “Is that clear?”
“Yes, Mr. Stark.”
“Levi is all your, though. I won’t help you there.” the engineer said, quickly. Stephen guessed he deserved that. He wouldn’t want to deal with an ancient relic that can probably wield magic on their own either (he suspected the death and re-appearing spiders on Romanoff’s bed was an old curse that he hadn’t being able to crack yet).
“Alright. I’ll take Levi back-”
“No, no, no. Kids,” Peter, Dum-E and Levi looked up, even if they seemed resentful of the honorific “I want to know why you did this.”
“Really? They wanted payback, isn’t obvious?” the Doctor replied, arching an eyebrow.
“But that’s not it.” Tony said, walking around the trio. The fidgeted on their spots, not looking at either adult. “The pranks could have gone on for weeks before someone finally caught on, and what’s more, actually got evidence. They wouldn’t quit that for nothing.” Tony stopped and stood with his arms on his hips (Stephen had to swallow a snort at the eerily similarity between Tony and his own mother in the same position; sure that the genius wouldn’t appreciate the comparison). So he just crossed his arms and gave the trio his best glare, trying to show an united front.
It shouldn’t take much longer, Stephen thought, one of them will break soon…
“Wejustwantedyoutomakeup!” Peter yelled, giving in. The Sorcerer had to repeat and break down the sentence a couple of times in his mind to understand it, at the same time as Tony, apparently, because both blushed deeply.
“Pete-”
“I am sorry for the mess (not for the jokes, tho, those were hilarious and so worthy) but you were so unhappy!” the teen continued with his rant, not paying attention at his mentor frantically trying to shut him up. The Doctor felt a pang of guilt in his chest.
“Kid-”
“You were miserable. And Dr. Strange wouldn’t visit for any reason so we had to do something that would force him to come and stay for more than five minutes. And the only way we came up with was getting caught.”
“Spiderling-”
“This big mess wasn’t part of the plan, believe me. But we had to get you two together in the same place and-”
“Peter! Enough!” Tony finally yelled, shutting the kid up. The genius sighed and ran his hand through his hair, before grabbing Peter by the shoulder. “Look, I appreciate what you (all of you) wanted to do, but you can’t force people to be in the same space when one of them obviously doesn’t want that. Boundaries, buddy. Just because I was sad and you wanted to see me better-”
“You think I’m only talking about you? Dr. Strange was also moping all over his books. Mr. Wong couldn’t stand his sighs and lost looks anymore.” The teen interrupted. Tony startled a bit at this but blinked it away.
“I’m sure it seemed that way, but-”
“He is right, Tony.” Stephen interrupted softly but firmly. He would not let this opportunity pass. “I was sad and unhappy, although ‘moping’ is-”
“-the right term for a person that spends their time mournfully looking at gifts someone else gave them; and for someone that sighs every five minutes because they are thinking of that special person; and if they are a mess-” Peter was interrupted when the Sorcerer cleared his throat loudly “-shutting up now.”
“As hard it is to admit it; the kid is right.” Stephen said, looking flustered. Tony squinted his eyes and crossed his arms, his body language defensive as hell.
Both adults focused on one another and ignored the audience they had (said audience wasn’t mature enough to leave them alone; more likely to take pictures of whatever outcome came to pass). The engineer looked at Stephen in the eye defiantly.
“I don’t buy it. If you were so ‘miserable’” you could practically hear the comas there “why stay away? I tried calling and texting, I went by the Sanctum and asked you to stay, but you just…ignored me.” He finished, hurt. Stephen closed his eyes and breathed through his closed throat.
“I know. I just…” he couldn’t find the words. The Sorcerer really wanted to fix this, but his brain was drawing a blank right now. How could he explain that he was so terrified of fucking things up that he had in fact, fucked things up?
“You just what?” Tony questioned, exasperated, after a few moments of silence. When the other man didn’t say a word, he threw his hands in the air and turned around, ready to leave.
“I was afraid I was going to lose you!” Stephen blurted out and then cringed. He knew what was coming. Tony turned around again and just looked at him.
“You were afraid you were gonna lose me, so you pushed me away?” he asked.
“That doesn’t make a lot of sense, but it’s the truth.” Said the Doctor, taking a few steps until he was at the edge of entering Tony’s personal space.
“I don’t get it.” Stephen closed his fists and breathed out, reading himself to finally explain what was going through his mind.
“When we were in Titan, I saw millions of futures. In a few hundred thousand, we ended up together.” Stephen could see the barrier in Tony’s eyes breaking down a bit, so he took another step. “And Tony, we have so much potential. We could be so, so happy together.” He whispered, taking one trembling hand and placing it on the other man’s cheek. “Or we could end up so broken. We could hurt each other so much; or lose each other to our duties. Or worse: we could be blissfully happy despite everything the world threw at us, and then one of us would die and leave the other a hollow husk.” Stephen swallowed, and this time Tony took his other hand with one of his own. “I wanted…I didn’t want to make mistakes… and I was so afraid I would ruin everything. And for not telling you and talking to you about it, I ruined things anyway.” He said, dropping his head.
“Almost.” Tony whispered. Stephen looked up. “You almost ruined things.” The genius raised his free hand and cupped the sorcerer’s face, caressing his cheek with his thumb. “I could tell right from the beginning that we had potential, and I didn’t need a shiny rock to do so. I could tell by just looking at us. We…we just fit.” Tony stood on his tiptoes and kissed Stephen’s cheek softly, before breathing on his lips and looking at him in the eye. “We will always make mistakes, Stephen.” He kissed the man in the other cheek without breaking eye contact and went back to breathing on his lips “But hid something like this from me again and I’ll kill you.” He threatened, before smashing his lips against the other man’s. Stephen’s eyes went wide at the threat but closed immediately at the smoothness of Tony’s mouth.
They kissed passionately; Tony taking charge and biting lightly; making sure to prove his threat wasn’t in vain. Stephen let the genius guide the kiss for a few moments, before he closed his hand on the nape of Tony’s neck, hair between his fingers and demanded the brunette to allow him entrance. The engineer groaned into Stephen’s mouth and went pliant.
“Okay, that was cute but now it’s going into the ‘my-parents-are-kissing’ gross level.” Peter said, completely breaking the mood. “You should leave that for the bedroom, really.”
Tony planted his face on Stephen’s chest and groaned. The sorcerer kept his eyes closed despite the beeping sounds and his curiosity. He felt completely at ease.
“You got what you wanted. You couldn’t just leave?” he moaned.
“Nope, no way.” The teen smirked. “We are going to hold this over both of you forever. We were right! We were right!” he sang at the rhythm of Dum-E’s beeps.
The Doctor finally opened his eyes and he found that their three troublemakers were dancing at Dum-E’s beat; Peter with a huge smile on his face, Levi swooshing all around them and Dum-E spinning in circles.
He shared a look with Tony and both chuckled.
Their family might be weird and unique, but it was theirs.