IronStrange Haven, formerly IronStrangeHQ

Sequel to one and two.

“What are you doing?” Wong asked.

“I found a spell that allows you to review your memories from an outside perspective,” Stephen said absently as the sped up scene of one of his and Tony’s ‘outings’ played out in front of him. “I’m reviewing my memories.”

A pause, from the corner of his eye he saw Wong examining the memory. “Is that Stark?”

“Yes,” Stephen said.

Wong hummed. “You both look very young. When was this?”

“About a decade ago,” Stephen said.

“Why are you watching memories of you and Stark from a decade ago?” The judgment was obvious.

Stephen let out an exasperated sigh. A moment later he realized that, just maybe, Wong might have insight for how Stephen could fix this—if this could be fixed. He turned to Wong. “If I tell you, will you give me advice?”

Wong’s expression clearly showed he was trying to decide if he was curious enough to risk getting involved with Stephen’s ‘relationship’ problems. Wong sighed. “All right.”

“You know I dated Christine on and off, right?” Stephen said. “Before Tony ever became Iron Man, and during mine and Christine’s first ‘off’, before we’d established the pattern, I met Tony and we hooked up. A lot. Eventually it turned from regular hook ups to something closer to a friends-with-benefits relationship.” He sighed. “Then Christine and I got back together. I… cut contact with Tony. It wasn’t supposed to be permanent,” he defended quickly. “I was just trying to show Christine I was serious.”

Wong looked like he was regretting asking. “What does this have to do with rewatching your memories now?”

“I didn’t mean for that silence to last forever,” Stephen repeated. “But things just… happened that way. But when Tony and I met up again, I suppose I thought we could… rekindle our friendship.” He held up a hand to stop Wong from asking the obvious question. “I wasn’t looking for a hook up! Except Tony hasn’t been… particularly happy to see me.”

“I’ve noticed,” Wong said dryly. “He avoids you quite expertly.”

Stephen grimaced. “Well, I finally got… answers.” He looked away, back at the current memory. He’d been trying to find the moment when Tony had fallen in love with him and how Stephen could have possibly not noticed. “It turns out Tony had thought we’d gotten past not just the hook up stage, but the friends-with-benefit stage as well. He thought we were dating.” Stephen ran a hand over his face. “He said he was in love with me,” he admitted. “He had thought that maybe I felt the same.”

Wong snorted. “Except, you were an idiot who hadn’t thought past sex.”

“We were friends!” Stephen defended. “I truly considered him a friend. I handled the transition when I got back together with Christine wrong, I get that. But…” he sighed. “He really was my friend,” he repeated. “I don’t know how to fix this. Tony thinks he meant absolutely nothing to me at all.” And Stephen supposed he understood why. He might feel the same if it had happened the other way around. “So now he wants nothing to do with me.”

“Have you considered why?” Wong asked.

“Obviously,” Stephen grouched. “I was an asshole. He thinks I still am.”

Wong very nicely refrained from pointing out Stephen was still an asshole. The point was Stephen wasn’t that sort of asshole. “Or, and it’s clear you haven’t considered this, Stark either still loves you or believes that he might fall in love with you again. Either way, he assumes the most-likely end result is that you’ll break his heart again.”

Stephen stared at Wong, feeling as though the ground had fallen out from underneath his feet.

A part of him had felt like Tony hated him, and that was why Tony had no desire to even try to be friends again. He hadn’t considered that maybe… maybe Tony felt the opposite and he just didn’t want to let Stephen hurt him. Again.

And that… 

A quick double check confirms my suspicion that it is *very* difficult to pee while erect, so I’m going with directly afterward. 

Behind the cut for the usual reasons! 😀 

I reread recently your fics "And Time Bends Around Us" & "Hidden Meanings and Secret Things" (Absolutely adore them, istg your mind never ceases to amaze me, you have so many good fic ideas and your writing style is also so incredibly addictive, i can never put down the phone when i read a fic of yours). And I LOVE how you write Tony and Natasha's friendship in these works. I was wondering if I could request a drabble about their friendship? Maybe even Natasha's friendship with Stephen? I don't mind if the story is from either of these two AUs or a completely separate story. I just love the way you write them. Sorry for the long ramble and poor grammar, english is not my first language

Have a lovely day!

I'm glad you've enjoyed those stories and the Natasha & Tony friendship dynamic. Also, your ramble was enjoyed and your grammar entirely fine! Hope you enjoy your prompt fill.

Natasha stepped into the kitchen, trying to decide what she wanted for breakfast.

Tony and Stephen were both already there, eyes narrowed and body language saying they were in disagreement.

Since they always had some sort of—mostly playful—disagreement with each other, she ignored it, moving to the refrigerator and sighing when she realized she was feeling picky and wanted none of it. What she wanted, she decided after a moment, was a smoothie.

She did not want to make a smoothie. But… There was someone in this room who had an almost preternatural skill at making literally the best smoothies.

“Tony—” she turned. “Remember how I make you the best ever coffee?”

Tony laughed, distracted from Stephen. “Want a smoothie?”

“Yes,” she admitted. It probably said something about how often she asked that Tony knew what she wanted. But his smoothies really were the best. “One of your chocolate berry smoothies, please.”

With another laugh, Tony moved to the pantry to grab the blender. When he came out, he had a grin on his face. “Natasha, resolve a question for us, if you would.”

“Absolutely not,” Stephen interjected. “She’s biased in your favor.”

“Says who?” Tony asked.

“Says everyone,” Stephen retorted.

Natasha cleared her throat, deciding not to comment on whether she was or was not biased. “What am I resolving?”

Tony ignored Stephen’s protest and gave her one of his teasingly charming smiles as he poured some milk into the blender. “Who figured out we were in a relationship first?” Tony asked, gesturing between him and Stephen. “It was me, right?”

Natasha kept her expression neutral, pretending to be thoughtful. There was really only one answer, unfortunately. But Stephen was right. She was a little biased. “Define ‘figured out’.”

Stephen let out a victory “yes!” and Tony groaned in dejection. “That means him, doesn’t it?” he said.

It took effort not to laugh. “Yes,” she admitted. “He absolutely figured it out first. I was going to have to get very creative with the definition of ‘figured out’ to give you the win.”

Tony let out a mock-disappointed sigh. “Thank you for trying,” he said, lip twitching up in a reluctant grin.

“I told you,” Stephen said. “Both that I figured it out first and that she’s biased.”

“She likes you, too!” Tony said. “She actually laughed at your joke last night. The one that wasn’t funny. She was trying to make you feel better.”

“It was funny!” Stephen protested. “You laughed.”

“Yeah, well I love you,” Tony said.

They both looked at her, clearly asking her input.

Natasha tried to hide her smile. “Define funny.”

Tony let out a victory “yes!” and Stephen groaned in dejection. 

Sequel?

Maybe other!Tony's Stephen turns up to pick him up?

Sequel to one, two, and three.

It took Tony only half a second to realize the Stephen who stepped through the portal was his Stephen and not the Stephen from the universe he was currently in. “Look,” he defended immediately. “It was an emergency. I had to stay here. I was going to let them send me back soon. I promise.”

Stephen gave him an entirely exasperated look. “I nearly had a heart attack when I got back into our dimension and Wong told me you’d been missing for almost two weeks. What could have possibly constituted enough of an emergency that you didn’t let them send you back earlier?”

“Stephen, you are quite literally, the best thing that has ever happened to me.”

Stephen crossed his arms over his chest, arching an eyebrow. “You aren’t sweet-talking your way out of this one, Tony.” 

Tony was well aware he couldn’t sweet talk Stephen into anything, but he still caught the faint glimmer of happiness that sparked in Stephen’s eyes at the confession. “I’m not actually trying to sweet talk you. This time, anyway.” He’d try everything once, to see if it’d work, after all. “But, anyway, I met the Tony Stark and Stephen Strange of this universe, and they were so entirely oblivious.” Even now he couldn’t quite accept that those two might have just let each other disappear from their lives without even realizing what they’d missed. “So, I’ve been setting them up.”

Stephen stared at him, as though trying to decide how to react to that. “I hope you know, Tony, that you are the only person who can somehow make the bizarre seem sweet.”

Tony shrugged. It was a Tony Stark specialty, that was for sure. Not that he thought it was all that bizarre. He was pretty sure his choices had all been entirely sensible. “Like I said,” he repeated. “You are the best thing that has ever happened to me. I had to give this Tony the best chance I could.” He paused. “And I like to think I make you happy, so it’s not like I was damaging this Stephen’s chances for happiness!”

That made Stephen’s expression turn soft. “You make me beyond happy, Tony. I’d be very tempted, if I’d been in your position, to try to give another Stephen that chance at happiness.” He paused. “Though I suppose I need to ask. Has it worked?”

Tony couldn’t quite help his scowl. “Oh. They are falling head over heels for each other. They’re just under the severe misconception that they’re not. It’s infuriating! And I only have two more days before I agreed to be sent home—” he eyed Stephen. “—and I love you, Stephen, but this is my mission so I’m taking those two days. I will make those two see the truth before I go.”

Oh yeah i almost forgot uhh happy belated Valentines or whatever heres doodles of my two faves

The funniest part of this prompt is that the Cloak must be in on it, because otherwise they could just stop levitating Stephen. 😂

-

The Cloak lowers Stephen back to the ground as the Avengers finish binding the villain of the week. He just stands there for a minute, gathering his energy. It’s been a long couple of months. He still manages to find a smile for Tony, still armored but with the helmet retracted.

“Hey, Merlin,” Tony greets him. “Got plans for the afternoon?”

Stephen rubs a hand over his face. “I’m behind on some research I promised to Master Minoru. And I’m supposed to take a turn monitoring the wards this evening. And—” The Cloak abruptly jolts into the air and Stephen reflexively summons a pair of shields. 

Tony’s helmet comes down and his hands come up but… Nothing happens. There’s no threat.

“Levi,” Stephen says, still hovering about five feet off the ground, “what’s wrong?” The Cloak shakes its lapels. Stephen frowns. Sometimes he wishes the Cloak was more interested in learning words. “Levi, put me down, I have to—” He’s cut off by a much more vigorous shake and a surge of another foot upward.

Tony lets the armor pull back into the nano casing and squints up at Stephen. “I think Levi is objecting to your workload.”

The Cloak nods its lapels and Stephen sighs. “I’m not thrilled, either, but I do have responsibilities.”

Levi is unmoved.

“Why don’t we get lunch?” Tony suggests. “A short break can’t hurt, right?”

“Assuming the Cloak will let me down,” Stephen says dryly.

“What do you say, Levi?” Tony asks. The Cloak shakes its lapels again. Tony hums thoughtfully. “I don’t think it trusts you. But…” Tony reaches up and takes a hold of the dangling Cloak and gives it a gentle tug. He grins when Stephen easily floats sideways. That’s a theory confirmed—the Cloak’s grip on Stephen’s shoulders was far too light to hold up the man’s weight, so Tony had guessed that it actually nullified his weight. “Come along now,” Tony says, pulling Stephen along with him.

“Tony!” Stephen protests as he’s dragged along like a balloon. “If you’re going to take me anywhere, take me back to the Sanctum!”

“Nah,” Tony says. “I agree with the Cloak. You need a break. You just relax and—” Tony grins up at him, “—take a load off.”

Stephen glares down at Tony as they move out into the flow of New York pedestrian traffic. From up here, Stephen can see even jaded New Yorkers pointing at him and giggling. He crosses his arms. “I will get my revenge,” he hisses.

“You hear that, Levi?” Tony says cheerfully. “Better not let him down any time soon!”

Stephen has to duck an awning.

Prompt : "Are you mad at me or something?"

For just a moment, Stephen wished that mind reading was real. And ethical. And not a betrayal. Because not knowing what Tony was thinking was killing him.

Stephen just wanted some sort of insight into why Tony’d been distant the last two weeks. Stephen wasn’t sure what he’d done. But why would Tony have started acting so distant if Stephen hadn’t done something. Wong hadn’t been particularly sympathetic, telling Stephen to stop being an idiot and just ask Tony what was wrong.

Which was why when Tony’s hello kiss was more a brush of his lips against Stephen’s cheek that Stephen finally broke. “What did I do?”

Tony blinked, clearly confused. “I don’t know?” he said, more a question than anything. “I just got here?”

Stephen took a deep breath. “Did I do something?” he re-worded. “Something to make you upset with me?”

For a long moment Tony just stared at him. “No.”

The answer was definitive, but it also wasn’t helpful. “All right,” Stephen said. “Did something else happen?” Tony hadn’t mentioned anything going on in the other parts of his life, even if Stephen had thought they’d gotten close enough to share those sort of things. “Have the Avengers—”

“No,” Tony said again, still definitive but unhelpful. 

“Then what’s wrong? Why have you been so distant?” Stephen asked. “If you need space, if I’ve done something, you know you can just tell me? I’m not trying to—”

“It’s not you.” Definitive, again. But Stephen still wasn’t sure it was helpful. But then Tony sighed. “I’m not mad,” he said quietly. “I’m just trying to protect the respect you’re afforded at Kamar-Taj.”

Stephen stared at him, baffled. “What? Why would our relationship have anything to do with Kamar-Taj? Has Wong said something? Wong’s sense of humor is terrible, whatever he said, he didn’t mean that way.”

“Not Wong,” Tony said. “Master... I forgot his name.” Stephen suspected Tony had not forgotten their name, whoever they were. “He explained... rather explicitly, that Kamar-Taj frowns upon deeper relationships with… people outside of Kamar-Taj.”

Stephen suspected whoever this Master was, they’d said something harsher. “There are plenty of Masters in Kamar-Taj who have outside relationships,” Stephen said honestly. “Both casual and intimate, many far deeper than ours currently is. My relationship with you isn’t something anyone would judge me for.” He paused. “Anyone reasonable,” he corrected. “Why didn’t you say anything?” he asked. “When… whoever it is that said whatever they said… why didn’t you tell me?”

Tony looked away for a moment. “I suppose I didn’t want to have you agree and end everything,” he said quietly. “I wanted to stay… but I didn’t want to hurt your reputation… and I was trying to have both.”

Stephen felt almost relieved. This was something that was a—relatively—easy fix. “I’ve… missed you the last few weeks. Like you weren’t really there. Come back, please. You can stay and you won’t hurt my reputation.”

Tony’s shoulders relaxed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t—” he sighed. “I was just trying to help.” He stepped closer, and this time when he kissed Stephen hello it was soft, gentle, and everything Stephen had been missing. “Forgive me?”

“Forgiven,” Stephen said immediately. “Now, who was it who told you that?”

“I’ve forgotten,” Tony said. “You know how bad I am with names.”

Summary:

They have this sort of ritual, every time a battle ends—an unspoken, mutual agreement to just be in each other’s spaces, basking in the assurance that they are alive and well despite all the odds.

Word Count: 885

Rating: E

Characters/Relationships: Tony Stark/Stephen Strange

Tags: Explicit Sexual Content, Intimacy, Post-Battle, Frottage, Hurt/Comfort, Not Beta Read, Ficlet

A/N: Last Christmas I jumped my friend @janora00 with a prompt request -- that is to say, I asked her for a prompt so I could spontaneously write her a gift fic lol. Of the two options she had provided I chose "unmade bed", and she had wanted something spicy but I have instead written... something south of that. Alas. I'm pretty sure this is 80% hurt/comfort, but what would you have expected from me, anyway? XD

Here it is, about 2 months later, posted for you all to read as well! :)

AO3

The moment the portal closes behind them, they are carrying themselves across the worn rugs and into the Sanctum bedroom, too exhausted to do much more than strip off everything and leaving them in careless, uneven heaps around the room before collapsing haphazardly onto the bed in a pile of exhausted limbs. They lay there side by side with uneven breaths, face turned towards the other. 

The bed is unmade from this morning, when Wong had pulled them off of it—completely unaffected by their nudity; the only semblance of modesty they were allowed was the blankets—to an emergency downtown. The interdimensional breach had been a sudden and unexpected one, a visible suture in their reality where the lovecraftian creatures spilled endlessly out of, and Stephen is beginning to think New York getting an invasion every other week may be the new normal. 

Truth be told, he doesn’t remember much of the fight—only the sharp spark of magic as he wields it with his fingers, the adrenaline coursing through his veins, the taste of blood on his tongue, Tony’s voice cutting through the pandemonium in raw panic—but he remembers the way Tony had ran towards him after it was over, the way those eyes looked wild and worried, the frantic hands hovering over him. It had been a close call, but one he ultimately survived, and that’s all that really mattered. It’s clear to him that Tony is shaken by it, however. Perhaps even more so than he is. 

Obviously there is some public sex in this one. 😀 Even if no one else realizes what’s going on.

Behind the cut for the usual reasons.

Part 3?

https://www.tumblr.com/airas-story/804328438671523840/prompts-part-two-to-this-perhaps-after-a

Sequel to one and two.

“Have you ever thought about getting a tattoo?” Stephen asked, his finger trailing over the various scars on Tony’s chest while they laid together in bed, Stephen’s head on Tony’s shoulder. Tony was staying nights more and more often. Stephen thoroughly enjoyed Tony’s increased presence, and not just because it helped keep episodes of dissociation away. Between Wong and Tony, it was getting better. The Cloak tried to help, but the Cloak had always been there. It didn’t help as much as both Stephen and the Cloak wished it did.

“A tattoo?” Tony asked, tone surprised. “Strangely enough, I’ve never thought much about it.” A pause. “Have you?”

Stephen hummed. “Not until recently. In one of my sessions with Master Jareth we talked about finding ways to reclaim my body. So that it feels like it’s mine again. I don’t know if it would actually help, but the idea of a tattoo, something new, something I’ve never had, something to make my body mine…”

“That makes sense,” Tony agreed. “Though I admit, I’m having a hard time picturing it. Stephen Strange with a sleeve tattoo.”

“I’d start with something a little simpler than that,” Stephen said amused. “I’d alter my arm bands so I can see my wrist, put something there where I’d see it regularly.” He’d thought about his hands. If done right it could be safe even with his scars. But he didn’t think he could trust a stranger with his hands right now.

Tony snorted. “You do cover yourself nearly head to foot. The outfit’s grown on me, but still.”

“It’s practical, Tony.”

Tony ignored that. “Have you decided what you want?”

“Not yet,” Stephen admitted. Though there was one thing… it was a ridiculous idea. Sentimental, really. Stephen had never considered himself sentimental before. “Any ideas?”

“I heart Tony Stark,” Tony said promptly. “With a little heart symbol, obviously.”

Stephen couldn’t have stopped from laughing if he’d tried. “I promise you Tony, that’s not happening.”

“Maybe I should get a ‘I heart Stephen Strange’ tattoo,” Tony mused and Stephen’s heart fluttered at the permanency of the suggestion. “Show you how it’s done. I bet I could make it super stylish. You’ll be jealous then.”

“So you’re not averse to getting a tattoo then?” Stephen asked.

Tony laughed. “You like that, don’t you. The outright declaration that I love you where anyone can see it.”

Well, yes. “Unlike you, Tony, I value the art of subtlety.” He let his fingers trail down Tony’s chest a moment before he caught Tony’s hand, lacing their fingers. “I’d prefer my mark on you be a little more subtle than that.”

Tony was silent for a moment and he must have read Stephen’s real intention in the words. “Is that what we’re doing, then?” he asked voice quiet. “Yours on me? Mine on you?”

“I want to make my body mine again,” Stephen started slowly. “Keeping you with me… That’s a bonus.”