An unexpected fic snippet
(My ISH fic exchange got out of hand. It'll probably be around 20-25k words (I'm north of 11k now), and I'm doing my best to finish it within the next 10 days. Yes, I'm writing my butt off haha. In the meanwhile, here's a snippet of what's coming in this out-of-the-blue-story that was only supposed to be 1.5k words but then a plot bashed its head in and then I got Really Angsty. Also since it's an IronStrange fic exchange it'll be labeled as such, but anyone who knows me knows that I'm poop at romance so the most romantic thing they'll probably do is make googly eyes at each other at the very end lmao. Slow burn to end all slow burns.)
In 2018, the world almost ended. The world almost ended on a surprisingly frequent basis, Stephen had discovered in the last two years. But this time, this time the solution seemed just as bad as the problem itself with five years lost and so much suffering in the interim and the years after. So Stephen pushed himself farther than he ever had before to see if he could find something else, a solution that was less cruel, less harmful, less impacting.
He found it sometime after 22.3 million futures. And only then did he allow himself to be pulled out of his trance to find Tony holding onto both of his arms, concern written across his entire face.
"You weren't responding to anything, Doc," Tony said. "Deep in there, were you?" He smiled as if it were a joke, but his eyes said anything but.
"I needed to look," he said, when he was able to say anything. Before anyone could ask anything more of him, Stephen said, "Give me a moment. I just need a moment." Searching that many futures had drained him, but also gave the opportunity needed to make this a bit less catastrophic at a much lesser price.
"Give him some air," Tony barked at the others, and while Stephen could see that Peter—both Peters—were clearly filled with questions, they took one look at Tony and backed off—though Quill with a couple mutters under his breath. "You okay?" he asked, voice soft.
"Fine," he said, and Stephen was fine enough—there was no time for platitudes. There was no time to think about the amount of times he saw the man kneeling before him die, die in a countless number of terrible, unspeakable ways.
"What were you doing with the Stone?" Tony asked, eyes narrowed in curiosity.
"Trying to find a future in which we win." Before Tony could speak again, Stephen spoke onward. "I need you to listen to me very carefully." Tony stilled; while they had—butted heads a little bit in the last few hours, their previous acquaintanceship over the years helped smooth out rough edges that would have otherwise been present. It's maybe what made this next bit possible at all.
"I need to hide the Time Stone. And you can help me."