#magic drain

The press conference had been both scheduled for months and meticulously planned. In the face of the fact, Stephen sometimes wished that inter-dimensional threats could sort themselves out or stick to Stephen’s schedule because he did not want to get involved in an actual battle with the Qigjn People over a breach between their dimensions an hour before he was supposed to be in New Jersey for a press conference. However, angry mobs of elephant-sized Egyptian sphinxes did not adhere to mortal, earthly conflicts.

At least the battle was relatively easy, or as easy as fighting off a herd of elephant-size sphinxes was. The Qiqjn People, however, were immediately susceptible to the smallest spells, lacking magic in their own world, Kenyiozan, (despite being known as a mythical, magical creature in his home world which.. Stephen guessed that in the eyes of Ancient Egypt, a giant lion with a human head was pretty magical) and subsequently left with no defense aside from slamming Stephen into trees and attempting to trample him. Stephen somehow managed to settle the argument, seal up the breach, and begin the trek to New Jersey.

The only other setback, however, was that despite not using much magic in the actual fight, by the time he was finished healing himself, he felt dead tired. The feeling was eerily familiar, and Stephen knew that he was rapidly approaching magic drain after draining his reserves with a larger Avengers battle the day before and sacrificing his sleep to put out a few dozen fires at Kamar-Taj just before he was called away to the Kenyiozan dimension. That, combined with his lack of rest, meant that Stephen’s reserves were low.

Not dangerously low, but low enough to cause some concern. If it were up to Wong and Tony, Stephen would skip the press conference and sleep the day away at the Sanctum to recuperate, but the conference was to announce Stephen’s position as the official liaison between the Avengers and Kamar-Taj, and of course, the official alliance between the two communities that Stephen was supposed to be liaising. Which meant that it was imperative that Stephen should be there.

When Stephen arrived at the venue, he cast a small illusion spell, wincing at the discomfort in using more magic, to hide his robes behind an expensive looking suit and his pale, sweaty complexion behind a mask of indifference.

Tony greeted him moments later with a short kiss, explaining that Wong was already on stage with the rest of the Avengers. Of course, Stephen had to have been a few minutes late, caught up in protecting reality. Either way, Stephen relished the chance to sit down in an air-conditioned room, even if the thunderous applause and bright lights that greeted his and Tony’s entrance felt like needles stabbing into his head.

Stephen sat down next to Wong and secretly grabbed his hand under the covered table. As far as the world knew, Tony was Stephen’s only steady relationship. They had been married for a year before Tony and Stephen had individually fallen for Wong and slowly welcomed him into their relationship. Now, Tony and Wong were dating steadily and Stephen couldn’t be happier with his two lovers.

The downside to dating another sorcerer, and one as powerful as Wong at that, however, was the way that he could tell when Stephen was hiding something, if not by his physical tells than by his aura. One aspect of magic that Wong was an expert in. Unfortunately.

The upside to being forced into press conferences was that the conference started before Wong’s concerned glance turned into an interrogation. Stephen had a few hours to rest before he had to pretend like he wasn’t about to drop dead in front of his partners.

The press conference, so far, was successful. Stephen had introduced himself as Sorcerer Supreme and Wong as his Second, then had announced Kamar-Taj’s alliance with the Avengers and Stephen’s position as the official liaison between the two parties before turning the time over to Tony to discuss the future of the Avengers with the partnership, leaving Wong to pitch in every now and then. The executive decision to join forces was a recent one, and this press conference also technically introduced Kamar-Taj to the world outside of Stephen and Wong, and the conference was being live streamed to Kamar-Taj.

It took Stephen a few moments, halfway through Tony’s first point, to start to feel tired. His energy quickly depleted after that, the adrenaline finally wearing off, and Stephen started feeling nauseous near the end of Tony’s part of the presentation. Wong started talking and Stephen felt lightheaded, almost like he was about to pass out.

Stephen only realized, when Wong mentioned his hope that by working with the Avengers, the world will be better protected as the addition of magic to the Avenger’s strength would drastically change the tides of future multiversal events, that he wasn’t just tired, he was exhausted. Magically exhausted at that. Stephen hadn’t even realized how low his reserves were until just now. 'Not dangerously low' his ass.

Wong stopped talking.

Stephen only registered the silence when he felt like all the eyes in the room were on him.

“Hmm?” Stephen asked, looking up.

“What are your thoughts on this new direction, Doctor Strange?” A reporter asked.

Stephen blinked. They were doing questions? He must have been more out of it than he realized “I think it’s good. A good direction. Yeah.” 

Very eloquent, Stephen thought.

A metaphorical knocking in his head started up and Stephen felt around for a handle. He opened his mind, it felt like Wong’s magic prodding into his thoughts. Stephen, are you okay?

Stephen felt the beginnings of a headache start to form as the world grew slightly fuzzy, like he had suddenly come down with a head cold.

“‘M fine, Wong…” Stephen muttered. He didn’t even realize that he had responded to the telepathic message out loud until Tony poked him and reminded him that his mic was on.

Stephen stared at said microphone, the black head of the gooseneck swaying in front of him before it flew out of his range of sight and Stephen’s head slammed onto the table, his world going black to the sound of frantic yelling.

~

The world returned in stages. Stephen groaned when he felt rough, callused hands softly carding through his hair.

Everything hurt, and his headache had returned with a vengeance. And wasn’t he supposed to be at a press conference?

“Stephen.” Wong. Huh, Wong wasn’t really a cuddly type.

“Hey, Stephen, how are you feeling?” Tony. Oh, that was whose hand was in his hair. Stephen blinked rapidly, trying to wake his mind up. The room was dim, and his bed -when did he get in bed?- was quite comfortable. He felt like he could sleep for twelve hours.

“What..?” Stephen tried to ask, swallowing against the dry feeling in his throat.

“You passed out at the press conference. It’s only been five or so minutes, but you scared us. We all saw you go down. Wong portaled you to the Sanctum and Steve handled the press. Wong says that you're halfway to a magic drain and FRIDAY says that you likely passed out from exhaustion.” Tony explained. Stephen hummed.

“I didn’t mean to.” He finally managed.

“We know, Stephen. We just worry about you.” Wong muttered.

Smiled softly, Stephen closed his eyes. Worried was basically a love confession from Wong. “I love you too.”

Stephen rolled over, burrowing closer to his lovers and quickly falling asleep.