#stephen.

he doesn’t need the eye of agamotto to divine it’s prooobably this timeline branch in which stark is muscling down the itch to deck him. barely.

impossibly ticked off, stephen’s posture hardens. he’s part of the force majeure. at times the signing-off party, which makes him the occasional executioner stuck in loops of mortal ingratitude—exhibit this—but not the catalyst.

he looks stark’s left arm down. great. just what the doctor ordered.

‘ cardiac events are the leading cause of mortality on earth. ’

the avengers come in a close third after cancer. off it, hard to say.

Tony's pacing. Tony's stressed out of his mind. Tony has more than enough bullshit to deal with without an actual fucking wizard spouting more of it. He stops in his tracks, turns to face the other man. Unimpressed.

“That's your solution, huh? Life will find a way. Did you get that from a hallmark movie?”

Deep breath, Stark. If you have an aneurysm, that’s no doubt another thing the good doctor will have a pithy remark about. Isn’t he meant to be a neurosurgeon too? Maybe if he is going to have an aneurysm, now is the best time.

Except for the part where they’re probably all going to die anyway. “Can we stick to constructive solutions? A bit of focusing on the problem? Maybe?”

‘ have you never seen jurassic park? ’

stark is prehistoric, in a way. he’s, what, in his fifties? pushing? stephen thought he’d be all over it.

maybe having gone through iterations of himself across on-acid alternate realities ground him into an amalgamation of the most extreme of each. it doesn’t help that he’s, side-effectively, going through a perpetual astral hangover.

he honors that hammering.

‘ stop— vibrating. you don’t die today. ’

hints like this one could jinx all manner of things, but he’s walking the line. just shut up. the junkie intensity of eye contact with stark is uncomfortable.

‘ how long can you hold your breath? ’