“Whoops, I made it gay!”

January

Stephen sighed softly while thinking over his options. Maybe going out for once wouldn’t be that bad. If he could forget about his problems for a day they might not be as hard to handle. Then again, his sweet little hay fever wasn’t as sweet as he had made it sound like to Tony. Staying home would be the best, and definitely the safest.

“I don’t know, Tony” he said, taking a sip of his tea. He savored the taste as best he could as it rolled down his esophagus. He licked his lips and clicked his tongue. “Doesn’t sound like something for me”. At best, it was a fleeting lie.

Tony scrunched up his eyebrows to give Stephen an expression of genuine concern, but also a hint of disappointment. “And here I thought you were a man of opportunity” he said.

Which was true. Stephen did like opportunities, and he would usually jump at them. Learning or experiencing something new was always on his list of things to do, and each new day always had another opportunity. Tony had come to know that part of him, and had come with him on many different events and excursions during their time together. Winter in particular was Stephen’s favorite time to hog a few opportunities. It meant he got to wear his favorite coat if the weather was cold enough.

Today, however, was not such a day. This whole week would have none such days. The only opportunities he would take were the ones that had to do with sleeping, resting, meditating, and hopefully getting a massage or two. Stephen made his best ‘I am absolutely very sick with a high fever’ impression while sighing heavily. “I’m sorry, Tones. You know how it is” he said and brought his cup of tea back to his mouth. It smelled delightful and tasted even better as he sipped from it with half-lidded eyes.

From The City Fair — ironstrange, prompt fill, established relationship, non-traditional a/b/o, no powers au, mild angst, hurt/comfort

February [nsfw]

“Happy Valentine’s” Christine giggled with glee, settling back on top of him and grabbing his wrists to pull his hands away from his face. He blinked up at her.

“Jesus, Christine” he mumbled softly, sniggering a bit more as he felt his face heat up another degree. Her sly smirk and expectant expression weren’t helping. In fact, it was only making the situation much, much worse.

“Oh?” she said, her eyebrows rising curiously.

“That’s not fair!” he exclaimed, freeing one of his hands to point a finger in her face. Attempting to look stern was however hard when; one, his face was flushed red from embarrassment; two, Christine had been idly waving a dildo a tad too close to his face; and three, he had woken up with a morning wood that had now increased to a full-fledged boner. Which wasn’t very easy to hide in the first place, but especially not when she was laying on top of him when he didn’t have any clothes on.

Christine giggled with what couldn’t have been anything but evil intent. Or at least playful. If it hadn’t been him the surprise was for, he would probably have been smirking as well. It was quite a naughty thought, and if he was being honest with himself, doing something naughty once in a while wasn’t all that bad.

The surprise was for him though, and the insinuations of what that meant-... Well, what did that mean? She hadn’t exactly been clear on what she wanted to use a firm, black, silver spangled strap-on dildo for. He wanted to ask, but almost dreaded the answer. His boner, however, didn’t. It quipped happily between his legs.

From A Very Happy Valentine’s Day — palmerstrange, established relationship, valentine’s special, pwp, strap-on

March

Pain ransacked his now vastly smaller body. What had been his hands, but now felt like something else, was pounding relentlessly. It ran like fire through what should have been his arms, into his torso, and then his entire body. He had been through pain, but this hurt. He considered, for only a moment, if perhaps it was supposed to hurt the first time you shifted.

Then he realized that he was falling. The ground was darting towards him, and threatened to ram into him at any second. He had to switch back. Biting through the pain took everything he had. He focused on the magic that was coursing through him. ‘Switch back, dammit!’ he swore to himself.

He heard footsteps approaching just as, at the last possible moment, he felt his body take its original form. He caught himself before he could fall face-first into the hard rock floor, and pain bit through every nerve in his hands and wrists. Maybe he should have taken the fall after all.

He rolled over to his back, squeezing his eyes shut and gritting his teeth. He didn’t have to look to know that his hands were trembling. They shook and ached worse than they had ever done before, and he didn’t have enough force of will to hold back a grunt of pain.

Mordo was at his side within a bare moment. “Strange” Stephen heard him speak. He didn’t dare respond back. Not only did his body feel like it was burning, but he also felt shame start to build in the forefront of his mind. Something had gone wrong, and he didn’t know what. He had failed, and he wasn’t ready to look Mordo in the eye knowing that he had. He didn’t want to see the disappointment.

Unposted draft — inspired by tumblr, angst, hurt/comfort, canon divergence, magic shenanigans, au elements

April

Stephen wasn’t born as Stephen. All those many years ago, he had run away from his childhood home in bottom ass Nebraska and somehow made it to upstate New York. Nevermind his education at Columbia University, but he made quick work of erasing his previous personality completely, together with any record that he had any family at all.

Although, deleted records apparently didn’t help his situation of a broken heart. Days and eventually weeks passed after his “incident” with Stark, and Stephen became increasingly cold and distant toward his fellow sorcerers. He even started pushing Wong away, spending more and more time in his makeshift office, burrowed in borrowed books from Kamar-Taj. I’ll return them when I’m done, was all he said before turning a cold shoulder and marching out of the room.

Wong eventually stopped questioning. No more ice cream breaks, no more preparing tea in the morning, and no more how are you:s. Wong stopped trying to establish contact overall. After all, Stephen did what he was supposed and expected to do. He guarded the Earth against interdimensional threats, he helped train new recruits on the rare occasion that they would drop in, and he kept himself educated on the most recent medical, technical and magical news. He didn’t need to be reminded or bothered.

Stephen himself, however, noticed himself becoming a dark, gloomy storm cloud, ready to explode at any moment. Maybe he kept his distance for the sake of others, or maybe for himself. Either way, he had no one but his books, and on occasion the Cloak of Levitation. Even when Wong gave up on him, the sentient piece of fabric stayed by his side. Unreadable if it was feeling anything, but still — it was company nonetheless.

Unposted draft — prompt fill, mpreg, canon divergence, pre-infinity war, unrequited love, heavy angst, no comfort

May

“I’ve hated you for what you did. For five years, I hated you, and I hated you even when you came back afterwards. I quite frankly despise Stephen Strange for what he did, yes”

“So why are you here? To mock me? To make me feel even worse? I’ve already resigned myself, Stark, and you won’t see me again because I’m done. I’m staying here”

“I’m not here for Strange” Tony says, then he pauses, and his eyes flicker to the floor once, before turning back to the being’s. “I’m here for you, because when I realized I wasn’t going completely mad and seeing things, and after everything you’ve said and done for me-”

Tony breaks himself off and drops his hands back, turning a bit and bites his lip. He’s not sure how to say what he wants to say, and he’s not sure if it’s right either. He got married to Pepper, then broke it off because he thought he was cursed. He’s not sure if he still loves her and wants to get back with her, or if it would be okay to pursue whatever it is that he’s feeling for this shapeless, formless being he has shared a room with for a few weeks.

“Tony?” eldritch Stephen asks, because the silence is suffocating all of them by now. Tony looks up at him, and he’s now more human-like than eldritch. His left arm is still missing, and his left side, hip, shoulder, cheek, and part of his hair are completely woozy. The color of his clothes and skin are dulled, and the cloak is melding with him.

Tony doesn’t speak, but takes a giant leap of faith by taking a step forward and bringing his arms around not-Stephen’s neck to kiss him. Stephen is stunned speechless, not sure how to react, but when Tony pulls back, he doesn’t want him to and forms the other arm to hold him close.

“Tony, I’m-” Stephen starts, but Tony quickly interrupts him by a hush and a hand over his mouth.

“Don’t ruin it. You speak, and you’ve ruined it”.

Unposted draft/outline — eldritch horrors, spell gone wrong, canon divergence, slow burn, shenanigans

June

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Stephen asked, an odd feeling pricking at his chest.

“I just mean that you-” Tony started, but broke himself off. He averted his gaze and started to fumble with the hems of his suit. Stephen knew what he was thinking.

“Just come out with it, it’s not taboo”. Tony looked up at him again with an uncertain expression. He blinked, and it changed into something softer — something … apologetic?

“You’re an omega,” he said softly, scoffing as if he didn’t believe what came out of his own mouth. Frankly, Stephen didn’t want to believe it either. He didn’t want to experience it — not like this anyway. “A claimed one at that” Tony added, turning his head to supposedly look toward where he was going. Stephen quickly gave up trying to figure out what that was supposed to mean, dropping the topic and starting to turn toward the Sanctum. It was quite a few blocks away, but it was in the opposite direction of the one they had walked for a few minutes now.

“Oh, and one last thing” Tony spoke up, stopping them both in their tracks. He quickly noticed that Stephen had subtly played him, judging by the look of betrayal on his face. “Wait, I thought you were going the same way as me”.

Stephen arched his eyebrows. “You didn’t actually think I was gonna let you see where I live, did you?”. One of those pesky smiles managed to find its way onto his lips again. Tony soon mirrored it with one of his own.

“Cute and clever,” the man said, shifting his weight to one foot and visibly biting his lip. Stephen could see that he wanted to say something more, but he was holding it back, either for Stephen’s sake or for his own.

“And you better remember that,” Stephen said, firing off a smirk despite not wanting to. It added to the warning he was trying to give. Sure, he might be an omega, but he wasn’t about to act like one. Especially not around some other irksome alpha by the likes of Tony Stark.

Unposted draft — ironstrange, a/b/o, slow burn, denial of feelings, ‘it’s not unrequited they’re just idiots’

July

Stephen leaned back to give Tony a hurt look. “Did you just come here to make fun of me?” he asked, tilting his head slightly and narrowing his eyes.

“I came here to take care of you” Tony responded, pulling Stephen in close to himself. “It’s 3am and you look like you haven’t slept in days. There are bags under your eyes, and you’re covered in cuts and bruises”.

“Probably because I haven’t” Stephen mumbled for a response, dipping his chin and burrowing his nose into Tony’s wet hair. He sighed, thumbs trailing little circles over Tony’s skin. “Can’t remember the last time I had a full eight hours of sleep”.

“Well, we better change that then” Tony spoke, smiling softly and digging his fingers into Stephen’s hair, caressing his scalp with the tips of his fingers. A soft grunt left the man, and he visibly relaxed into Tony’s arms. “Come on, turn around and I’ll soap your back”.

“Tony-”

“Nu-uh, turn around”. When Stephen didn’t listen, Tony moved his hands to twist the wizard around where he stood. He made quick work of dousing his hands and one of the loofas in the soft lavender-smelling soap, then moved to give his impromptu lover a well earned back massage. “Since you apparently can’t take care of yourself, I have to do it for you” he said, pressing his lips against Stephen’s shoulder. The magician didn’t respond, but exhaled a deep breath and hung his head. Tony continued to move his hands along Stephen’s back, then wrapped them around his waist to pull him into a hug.

From Will my Aching Wounds Never Heal? — ironstrange, technically post-endgame, mild angst, hurt/comfort

August

Nothing was written on this month :(

September

Stephen watched as he slowly floated, tiny blobs and colors assembling around his form. One had attached itself to his fingers, and was slowly spreading across his palm. He had seen many shapes that weren’t shapes in his countless visits and journeys through this plane, but the type at his hand was of the more peculiar ones. It seemed sentient — in some morbidly primal way. He had encountered its kind not more than three times before, and each was just as memorable.

He carefully moved his hand in front of his face to inspect it more closely. It wiggled peacefully as it flattened out to cover more of his palm. Had he still been able to sense more touch than the vague knowledge of proximity, he assumed that it would feel soft. Maybe a well-wanted aid for his constantly aching hands. While in this plane, his scarring wasn’t visible, and his hands were completely still, void of any distant trembles or heavy shakes. The bodily nerve damage was but a memory — one that he so wished he could forget and pretend like it never existed. In this moment, while floating aimlessly among the colors he now knew so well, he could allow himself to forget. Until he decided to go back into his body, time itself would wait.

Stephen brought his other hand in front of him to join the first, and he nudged at the colorful warble in his palm. It reacted to his touch, fizzling gently — like an egg frying softly in a heating pan. It contracted into a tight ball before reaching for the middle finger on his other hand. It brought a gentle smile to his lips. Such a peculiar thing — otherworldly and unfamiliar — and yet so brilliantly calming. It was a rarity both in this world and the next.

Stephen could reflect over the fact that he was currently hovering upside-down a few inches from his bedside, but such matters were exactly as irrelevant as the flow of time. It made no difference which way he was facing, or if he was sitting or lying down. Gravity had no impact on his current form unless he inched closer to the earthly plane enough that it would affect him. Objects such as doors or walls were an inconvenience, at most.

From Shapes, Colors, and Creatures — astral projection, nonsense, drabble, magic shenanigans, plotless

October

Nothing was written on this month either :(

November

His body collided with a cold, hard floor, and he called out as his back and shoulders was whipped with pain. It reminded him of the last time he had been here. He knew where he was. Really, there was nowhere else he could be. He had been sent through time by none other than himself, because … he was bored? Was that it? Stephen wasn’t sure why the other had spared him the first time. Maybe now he would actually have a chance to ask.

He slowly rolled over to his side, then to his stomach, coughing as he caught his breath which had been pushed out of him when he landed. He got up on hands and knees, then sat up on his haunches to look around himself. Much like last time, there was a circle of glowing red runes on the floor. He could only assume that it was a barrier that would react violently if he were to approach it. Better not risk it, right? He knew enough about magic by now to know when to keep away.

“Sorry, should I have warned you about the landing?” came a voice from somewhere in the darkness that surrounded him. Stephen felt his skin itch on his cheek where he had been tainted by whatever that had been those months ago. He preferred not to think about what any of it had been. It made him want to stick his head into a toilet bowl and barf out his insides.

“Sarcasm was never your strong suit” Stephen responded while pushing himself to his feet, still a bit winded from the fall. He heard a brief laugh echo around him at that.

“You forget the most important detail, doctor” the voice responded, now less disembodied, as Stephen could hear what direction it was coming from. He turned to face the looming shadows, narrowing his eyes to try and see better. At best, he could discern a silhouette, but he almost assumed that it was no more than happy delusions that his brain made up to keep himself sane.

Unposted draft — sequel to How’s That For Marbles?

December

When the sun was getting closer to disappearing below the horizon, they were sitting next to each other in the grass. Supreme was holding a flower that Strange had given him, and Strange had an arm around his waist. “This is to live for” he said eventually, breaking Supreme out of what thoughts he might have had at that moment. He sighed softly and elected to lean against his counterpart’s side.

“I don’t belong here” he mumbled, picking one of the petals from the flower and letting it get taken by the soft wind that still blew. He sighed and pulled off another petal, watching it disappear in the distance. It felt almost comical how he was able to see a parallel between himself and flower petals that got whisked away by the wind. He had been content with the life he thought he had in his own dimension. Just him and his beings, for so many centuries, then the other Strange had pulled him out into another world, and he no longer felt as content with what he thought he had. All of a sudden, he missed what life could be like if he hadn’t made the terrible mistakes that he did.

“Do you want to go back?” Strange asked, and Supreme felt his gaze on him. He exhaled a sigh through his nose as he watched another petal get swept up from between his fingers.

“No”. He didn’t want to go back, but did he have any other choice? What if the Watcher came back to find his dimension empty? Granted, it had been a long time since he’d seen that mystical being now, but the concern still lingered. He knew that he had been left in there as a punishment, and he didn’t consider himself worthy to skip out on that punishment. It was what he deserved. “But I can’t stay” he said, tossing the flower into the grass in front of him.

“Okay” the other said slowly. Supreme could hear the hesitance in his voice. He wasn’t sure if he should say anything more, or if he should just go back to his own lonely universe. He did neither. Strange seemed to appreciate it, as he held Supreme a bit tighter to himself.

From Belonging — gift fic, selfcest, body horror, angst, hurt/comfort, pwp, shenanigans, wibbly wobbly

I sincerely hope that 2021 wasn’t too hard on you. It was rough, but you made it through, and you should be proud of yourself! Pat yourself in the back!

And shortly after, Stephen was nowhere to be seen. Once the purple-skinned, eight foot tall individual with a golden gauntlet had beaten all of their asses, as Tony looked around, he was nowhere to be seen. He thought he was finished, his own nanotech turned against him and shoved into his abdomen. He thought it was over for all of them, but the mad Titan seemed just as confused as he was.

Instead of delivering the final blow to end him, Thanos disappeared through a smoky blue haze, leaving no trace that he had ever been present in the first place (the destruction of the site and half a moon scattered around the place aside). Tony didn’t know whether to take a breath of relief or scream in frustration. He bit his teeth trough pain instead and begrudgingly patched himself up with the fix-it-all solution installed in his suit.

And then he cried. Not outwardly, but he cried. They all had put their lives on the line. They had made a plan and aimed to stick with it, but the damned sorcerer had fled the coop and abandoned them. So much for being a moral compass.

Whatever he had seen in the alternate futures... Tony didn’t want to know. He didn’t want to think. They had to pick themselves back up, regroup and make a new plan. Somehow, they would have to get back to Earth.

Tony had lost track of time. Recovering from the titan’s attempt at murdering him had been a long process, and even longer had it been to gather all of the Avengers. They were scattered - shocked after the attack on Earth. They had lost many, and even more were left wounded. After Stephen Strange’s disappearance...

His name alone made Tony Stark fume with anger. He hadn’t liked him from the start, and having him run from the battle like some other coward had been the tipping of a scale. His disdain had turned into hatred. He knew full well that if he ever saw that bastard again, he would punch him. Maybe even fire a few shots from his blasters.

After a briefing with the Avengers that was left and fit enough for a fight, Tony exhaled a breath. He slumped into an armchair, willing and able to fall asleep on the spot. It had been a long week, and his body craved a moment of rest.

That - of all the times in the past month - was the time when the infamous sorcerer decided to make his reappearance. Right then and there, in the middle of the compound, without prior warning, orange sparks flew as a magic portal opened to a dimension Tony had never dreamed of seeing.

He was on his feet in an eyewink, blasters ready, but stopped dead in his tracks as he saw him. The sorcerer; Stephen Strange. He looked different. No more navy blue robes with the flown brown belts around his waist. No fancy necklace. Instead, he was wearing a pitch black, skintight suit with a silvery white... Ankh?.. On his chest, and one golden glove on his left hand. Neatly matched with the golden soles of his equally black boots. The necklace was replaced with a golden amulet positioned at the base of his neck, but that cursed cloak was still attacked to his shoulders. Although, that too looked different.

And then there was his face. He was pale, unnaturally so, and dark circles underlined his eyes. His cheeks were hollow, and his skin marred with scars. But the detail that truly made Tony’s skin crawl was the symbol etched into the sorcerer’s forehead, right between his eyebrows. It almost looked like it was glowing a faint blood red.

Eyes that had previously been brown (or were they green? Tony couldn’t recall) were now tinted purple, and seemed almost alive. They looked right at him. It made the blood curl in his veins, and his heart pumped faster.

The dimensional gateway closed, but the sorcerer kept hovering ominously in the air thanks to his magic cloak. Finally, he displayed an ounce of emotion. The corners of his lips twitched upward into a twisted sort of smirk. “Tony Stark” Stephen said, his voice an octave lower than what Tony remembered it to be. “We’ve been watching you”.

And then the smirk turned into a grin that made Tony’s spirit leave his body in complete and utter fear. His jaw clenched, his eyes widened, and he found himself frozen in place.

What the actual hell had happened to Stephen Strange?

Will be available on my AO3 within a few days. Any suggestions for improvements are appreciated, and reblogs make this author happy! Can we get a keysmash for sexy villain Stephen?

He stopped in his tracks and looked up at Tony, not quite wanting to meet his eyes. He tried a smile, but it faltered. “No” he answered - a lie. His voice felt raspy in his throat. Tony didn’t look convinced, so Stephen pulled his gaze back to the floor and resumed his pacing.

“You’re not lying to me again, are you?” Tony said.

Stephen felt guilt rise in his being, causing the muscles in his back and neck to tense. He fought not to pull his shoulders upward. Yes, he was lying, again. He didn’t like lying, especially not to Tony, but sometimes the lie was better than the truth. He was famished, but he wanted a better way to solve it. Something that didn't involve digging his teeth into someone else's flesh.

“I’m not drinking your blood” he said with finality. His voice was definitely raspy, more so than he expected. He cleared his throat once while he kept pacing.

“Okay” the other man said from where he was standing. It knocked Stephen off his tracks. He stopped and turned his head to look at Tony once more. That was not the answer the had expected. But the look on the man’s face was genuine, and his tone of voice lacked any sort of venom. Stephen narrowed his eyes as he kept looking, trying to see through a potential facade.

“Okay..?” he asked slowly.

“Okay” Tony said again. “You don’t have to drink my blood, but you should drink some blood”. Stephen pressed his lips into a line. He knew what Tony was going to say next. “You’re starving yourself. I’m in physical pain just from looking at you”.

Now the wizard sighed and let the tension fall away with the exhale. He couldn’t hide from Tony anymore. He had learned to recognize the signs months back.

The engineer walked closer to him and put both hands up to cup Stephen’s face. “Stop doing this to yourself, Steph. You need to drink something” Tony said. Stephen couldn’t help but think that it sounded like he was begging. Then again, he supposed he was actually slowly killing himself.

“Fine, but it won’t be you”. Stephen whisked Tony’s hands away from his face before they became unbearable.

“What about Wong?” Tony suggested, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Have you asked him?”.

“Vampires can’t drink from other vampires”.

“Right”. Tony’s gaze dropped to his feet. “Forgot about that”.

Stephen sighed with defeat. He reached out with trembling hands to lightly grab Tony’s elbows with the tips of his fingers. Tony stepped closer so Stephen could out his arms around him if he wanted to. The wizard elected to keep his hands placed on Tony’s biceps.

“I just don’t like it when you starve yourself for me”. Tony’s voice sounded small - too small for the great man he was. Stephen steeled himself and pulled him in closer to his chest.

“You don’t like it when I drink” he mumbled into the engineer’s hair.

“Well, I like it even less when you don’t drink” Tony argued.

“I know” Stephen whispered, pressing a kiss to the top of Tony’s head. “I’ll ask Christine. There’s usually something in storage at the hospital”. He pulled away from the hug and grabbed the sling ring at his belt.

“Is she in?”. Tony looked at him with furrowed eyebrows, arms crossed over his chest.

“She works late on Fridays. She’ll be there” Stephen assured, offering Tony a smile as he got to work with opening a dimensional gateway to Metro General. He was about to step through, but hesitated and turned. “I won’t be long”.

“I certainly hope not” Tony said, immediately lighting up and staightening his back. “I might start to think you prefer other people than me to hang around”.

Stephen felt an honest smile spread on his lips. “No, Tony, there’s no one else that have caught my attention like you”. He reached for Tony’s hand, pulled it up to his lips and kissed it.

“Flatterer” Tony mumbled, his free hand flying up to rub the back of his neck.

“Only the truth” Stephen assured. He let the hand go and turned to walk through the gateway, stopping on the other side to throw a look over his shoulder. “No one tastes like you” he mumbled.

“I heard that!” Tony was barely able to shout before the gateway started to close. Stephen saw the smugly grin and threw a grin back, before the gateway closed completely and left little yellow sparkles hanging in the air, before they dissipated into nothing.

Didn't mean for this to happen, but here we are 🙈

Will be posted on my ao3 within a day or two! Vamp Stephen has snatched my heart 😂

This was inspired by a post I saw on twitter forever ago. I've lost the link, but I feel like I need to have it pointed out that it wasn't originally my idea.

“I can, I have to”. Tony once more tried to pull his hands free, this time succeeding. The nano-tech crept down his arm, forming around his hand and wrist. He had to be able to do this, there was no other choice. He was stopped by the sorcerer’s hand grabbing his wrist, fingers blocking the exits for the magical-heal-it-all-solution, as he’d called it once.

“Tony” said magician said. Tony didn’t want to listen. He didn’t want to look at him. He wasn’t ready for this to happen yet, and he wanted to fix it. He had tried to prevent it for so long, and succeeded. He didn’t want to fail now, he couldn’t.

But Stephen knew better. Stephen had been a doctor. He knew that their time was up. “There’s no cure for death” he said, barely above a whisper. Tony knew that the words were supposed to be comforting. He knew that Stephen wanted him to just let it happen, but how could he?

“But you can’t leave me!” he exclaimed, voice breaking. Tears now finally started to well in his eyes, and they spilled over before he could stop them. “I can’t live without you”.

Now the sorcerer smiled. Weakly, and it send electric jolts of pain into every corner of his face, but he just couldn’t help but smile. “Yes, Tony, you can” he said. Tony looked at him with great disbelief along with the sadness and grief that was already starting to build up inside him. Stephen tried to adjust his position to be more comfortable, but needles of pain shot down his back as he did. He settled, figuring he was comfortable enough.

“I’ve seen your future” he continued once the pain had dulled, reaching a hand up to cup Tony’s cheek. “The only reason I’m able to leave without feeling any regret is because I know you will be happy”.

Tony immediately wanted to object. He wanted to turn his back and walk away, like he always did. He wanted to sit by himself and pout until the wizard would come searching for him and tell him that he was right. But he couldn’t leave Stephen now. This wasn’t like all the other times. He was dying, and Tony knew that. He just didn’t want to admit it.

“How could I ever be happy without you?” he asked silently, tears falling from his cheeks down to land on Stephen’s chest. The wizard looked at him with an apologetic expression.

“You know I can’t tell you”.

That's when Tony broke. He didn’t care that he was crying. He should’ve been the one to lay down his life for someone else. But instead, that damned sorcerer had gotten his hands dirty for once and blamed it on the greater good. “Damn you, wizard!”.

He saw Stephen’s eyes fall close, no longer having the strength to stay open. In a fit of panic, the mechanic wrapped his arms around the sorcerer and pulled him in close. He still had a heartbeat, even if it was slowing. He was still breathing, even if it was ragged. And he still had a voice, even if it was barely above a whisper. “I love you, Tony” he rasped.

Tony couldn’t help the selfishness from surfacing and poking its ugly head into what he now realized might just be their final moment together. “I hate you for doing this”.

He heard Stephen’s dry chuckle in his ear, then the weak, wet cough as blood was rising in his throat, clogging his airways. Tony felt it smear against his cheek when the wizard spoke. “Please..”, then a pause that felt like it lasted for far too long, “don’t let those....be the last.....words I hear”.

Tony desperately tried to come up with something better. He held Stephen closer to himself, rocking them both gently back and forth. “I can’t lose you” he whispered, inhaling a disgusting, wet sob. Stephen’s body was feeling far too heavy in his arms. He was fading, and fast.

The words he uttered was barely a whisper. Tony only heard them because his ear was right next to his mouth; “You can”.

The mechanic inhaled a ragged breath. He didn’t dare do let go. He didn’t want to let go yet. He couldn’t even begin to understand how the wizard could so readily leave him behind. Why wasn’t he fighting? Why wasn’t he begging for his life? How could Tony’s future be anything but dread and grief without Stephen in it? He didn’t want a future without Stephen. He loved that asshole, through everything. Through death. He wanted to let Stephen know that.

“I love you, you bastard” he choked out.

And though Tony wasn’t looking, having his face buried in the sorcerer’s bloodied clothes, the corners of Stephen’s mouth twitched upwards into a smile. The physical pain had stopped long ago. Now the emotional pain, and the traces of fear he had been feeling, disappeared with the wind.

Though Tony didn’t know it, Stephen used the last of the strength he had left to push his astral form out of his physical form, and he held the mechanic just as close as the mechanic held him. He placed a kiss in the midst of that soft, brown hair, and he whispered; “I’ll be okay now Tony. I finally get to meet my little sister”.