Sacrifice

Tony Stark knew of sacrifice, better than most, and it's come up time and time again until it finally came crashing down in what the press has called "Civil War". Now, Tony has to build up his life again with a new team to be formed and a new name on his chest to get used to.
Stephen Strange learned when he became Sorcerer Supreme that the name on his wrist was wrong, that the universe had covered up his true soulmate until he officially took on the role as Sorcerer Supreme, and set out to find and talk to his soulmate.
Too bad he finds out the night that Tony's left to die in Siberia.
Now Tony and Stephen must cross the topic of the new names on their bodies while juggling the responsibility of building the Avengers back up again and an old enemy coming back to exact revenge.

Notes:

This has been a personal project of mine for a good month and now, after some writer's block and developing story arcs painstakingly slow, it's complete! I'm pretty happy with how this turned out, and I hope you enjoy it too! See you at the end!

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

“I know something about sacrifice, better than you ever would.”

That’s what Tony wanted to say that day, in front of Captain America’s stupid face but no. Instead he sucked it up for the greater good because he knew the world couldn’t afford an argument between Captain America and Iron Man right in that instance, so instead he babbled something about cutting the wire instead.

Oh, but he knew of sacrifice.

No matter what Rogers said, all righteous and confident that he knew Tony Stark.

As if.

After the battle, and him proving that he could lay down on the wire, Steve tried to make amends and Tony let him, only for the rest of the world who needed him to.

“Listen, Stark-Tony, I’m sorry about what happened when we first met, I said some things-“

“It’s cool, we both said nasty things so let’s both get over it. Okay?” Tony said breezily as he pours himself a cup of coffee, gripping it tightly to stop his hands from shaking because of another nightmare.

“Uh-sure, sure! Are you open tomorrow for movie night-?” Steve barely finished his sentence before Tony was smoothly making his way past him and down into his lab.

“No, that’s okay, I’m busy working on SI projects. Have fun without me!” Disappearing down into his lab, Tony couldn’t help but feel relief that he managed to get away without any more questions.

The first few attempts, Steve tried to make Tony come up for movie nights but eventually he gave up.

They all do, is the only thing Tony thought when he noticed that Steve stopped coming down.

Tony didn’t like any of them, didn’t trust any of them, except for maybe Bruce.

Natasha broke his trust twice, going undercover as a secretary ~~(he always knew though)~~ was the first strike and injecting him was the second strike. On top of that, she was SHIELD and Tony never trusted them either.

You can take the girl out of the Red Room, but not the Red Room out of the girl it seems.

Clint was Natasha’s right hand man and he was a SHIELD agent, enough said, although Tony had to admit Clint played a good game of pretend, he always joked around with Tony and played Mario Kart with him. But Tony was a Stark, he grew up in a world of lies and manipulation with the press breathing down his neck, and he could see Clint read Natasha’s laughable report on him and agreed with it.

Tony knew he was always a follower.

Thor was too alien and was gone too often for Tony to trust him anything past having his back in battle. Not to mention he had this misguided trust in his brother, he believed his brother always had a good in him even though Loki never showed it, and Tony knew that those were the things that could get someone killed in a battle.

Thor would learn eventually, Tony did with Obadiah.

And then came the righteous Captain America.

Captain Steven Rogers was the worst out of all of them, first demanding that the team-no Tony had no secrets and giving him a disappointed stare. The good ol’ Captain had managed to convince Tony that he was wrong, that it was his fault, because there was no way the honest Captain could be wrong, right?

But then again, maybe it was Howard that convinced Tony that Steve had no ill intentions behind his white teethed smile before he even met the man, that Steve was in the right and Tony just had to be better.

( ~~Or maybe it was the name above his collarbone)~~

It hadn’t been the experienced assassins or the otherworldly god that slipped past his watchful eyes and his mental walls that reached into space like Tony once did, no, it was Steve Rogers that slipped past, like Hydra once did to SHIELD.

And just like SHIELD, Tony was poisoned and compromised.

Left compromised and to die in Siberia, he vowed not to let himself fall for another lie again, and rebuilt the walls that Ste-Rogers bulldozed over.

He put Tony, the real Tony, behind those walls, letting him seek comfort there where only a few could get past.

And the walls wouldn’t come down for very long time, not until the new person on his chest showed up.

Stephen Strange.

Stephen found it strange that Christine had been on his wrist, because throughout everything they’ve been through neither of them felt that click.

Stephen was aware that not all soulmates were destined to be a couple and the logical side of him, the surgeon side, was pleased that they wouldn’t have to go through the burden of a relationship, of keeping someone happy. The rest of him, though, was saddened at this prospect, that the one person made for him couldn’t actually be with him.

They tried, of course, but when Stephen lost his hands, he understood why they couldn’t be together. Christine was strong and an independent person, much like Stephen himself, but she didn’t have the tendency to self destruct, to push everyone away in times where they were actually needed. Stephen had those self destructive tendencies though and that’s when he realized that they couldn’t be in a relationship, no matter how much they tried, because Stephen was flawed in such a way and Christine was strong enough to let him go.

Stephen understood immediately why she did so and with all ties cut loose, he covered up his hands ~~(scarred, would anybody love them-?)~~ and set out to find a way to fix them.

When he came back, he and Christine became good friends when they sat down and talked it out. During that conversation, Stephen admitted something that he hadn’t told anyone else yet.

“Before she died, she told me that the mark on my wrist was wrong. She said she was sorry, that she had to conceal it as fate would not allow us to meet until the right time, which I’m assuming meant until I became Sorcerer Supreme.” Stephen explained and Christine beamed in excitement.

“This is it Stephen! I’m happy for you and while fate may have kept you from seeing your true soulmate until now, at least it lead you to your best friend right?” Christine smiled softly and Stephen nodded immediately.

“Yes it did, and when I clear up my wrist from your name you’ll be free to find your soulmate.” Christine never sought out her soulmate because of Stephen, because she thought the mark on her wrist was wrong, and even after they figured out they couldn’t work together Christine didn’t want to take any chances, citing she was fine without a soulmate ~~(even if her eyes strayed to happy couples or families)~~. But now if Stephen undid the spell on his bond with his soulmate, Christine would have a clear conscious and be free to find her true soulmate as well.

“Well? Go do it!” Shooting Stephen away to the library, Christine smiled and sat patiently to wait for Stephen’s return.

She hoped Stephen’s true soulmate could give him what he needed, what Christine herself couldn’t supply. Stephen needed a strong and resilient partner that could understand why Stephen lashes out the way he does and handle it better than she ever did, the partner needs to understand that within his line of work he could die when he goes out there. The partner needed to understand that they could never have a normal life, never settle down and have kids or even a remotely calm life.

Christine couldn’t do that, couldn’t sit back and watch Stephen go handle situations that required Sorcerer Supreme and come back bruised and bleeding and she couldn’t handle him lashing out when he was hurt, but she prayed his actual soulmate could.

It took three hours to finally get the incantation off of him, but when he did, Stephen rushed back to Christine and sat across from her, holding his wrist out so they both could see.

Anthony Stark

They looked up at each other and Christine ran across the table to tackle Stephen into a hug, toppling both of them onto the couch, and laughed breathlessly.

Stephen hugged her with one arm as the other was still held up so he could see the name clearly, eyes blown wide in wonderment.

“This is it! Tony Stark is your actual soulmate!” Christine laughed, eyes pricked with tears of happiness, (sadness too because it hurt to know she wasn’t good enough of a partner to take care of Stephen the way he needs to be taken care of, and it hurt to let go even if she knows they’re not made for each other-) and Stephen let out a breathless laugh of his own, letting the other hand fall to hug Christine fully.

He had time to memorize the name that was written in cursive later.

In the warmth of the Sanctum, Stephen and Christine celebrated the new name written on Stephen’s wrist.

And in the cold Siberia night Tony finally let himself fall unconscious as he saw Vision approach his unmovable armor, not noticing the feeling of a new name being written across his collarbone.

“Colonel Rhodes speaking.”

“Hello, my name is Sorcerer Supreme and I want to request a meeting with Tony Stark.”

“Sorcerer Supreme?”

“Stephen Strange.”

“Uh-huh, please give me a minute Mr. Strange.” Aside from the mutter of who the hell names themselves Sorcerer Supreme the line was silent until Rhodes spoke again.

“If you want to meet Dr. Stark, you’ll have to come to the hospital.”

“That can be arranged. Which hospital and what room number?” After Rhodes listened the hospital and room number, Stephen realized he used to go into that room when he was a-well it doesn’t matter. Opening a portal to the room, Stephen stepped inside in front of Rhodes and closed the portal behind and, to his credit, Rhodes didn’t looked fazed.

Rhodes motioned him over from where he was seated in a wheelchair ~~(Why? What happened? Why were they meeting in a hospital? Did something happen-?)~~ and Stephen’s breath hitched when he realized who was on the hospital bed.

“You wanted a meeting with him? Here he is.” Laying prone on the bed was Tony Stark, unmoving and bruised.

“What happened?” Stephen said breathlessly, and Rhodes shook his head.

“I’m sure an answer will come, but we need your help.” Stephen was confused, why would they need his-

“I’m not a surgeon anymore.” He blurted out, embarrassed and ashamed though he hid the emotions well, and put his hands behind his back on instinct.

“No, no, I didn’t call you to do surgery or anything. Tony needs two things from you if you can manage it, he needs you to look over the Extremis formula and he needs you to find Dr. Banner.” Stephen frowned, he had previously researched Bruce Banner once he had found out that Tony was his soulmate. They were dubbed “science bros” and seemingly the closest relationship Tony ever had with any of the Avengers, but after the “Ultron” debacle, Bruce and the Hulk were mysteriously unaccounted for in any future missions.

“Where is Banner? I can pick him up...” Stephen trailed off when Rhodes shook his head and Rhodes elaborated.

“Banner ran away but we need him, Tones only told him in great detail about the arc reactor. He’s the only one who even remotely knows how it works and while Tony told me about it, that only the short version. Probably because he knew I wouldn’t understand it if he dived deeper into its mechanics. On top of that-well Friday pull it up for him.”

“Yes Colonel Rhodes.” At his request, the AI pulled up three holograms that seemed like a lock screen.

“What is this for? What are they locked for?”

“The first one is the lock on Banner’s location, Tony understood why he ran away and wanted to give him space. But, he was always tracking Banner to make sure nobody from the remnants of SHIELD tried to bother him and he kept it under lock. The second one is an in-depth explanation of the arc reactor and how it works, and finally, the third one is the Extremis formula and how theoretically it’s suppose to work and be inputted.”

Project Green Bean-Confidential

Awaiting Input From:

James Rhodes

Virginia Potts

Tony Stark’s Soulmate

“Why is the last one different?” The other ones had valid names, where nobody but those people could access it, but the last one was vague at most. Stephen knew this was made before he released the spell on their soulmate bond, so why wouldn’t Tony just put the name of who was on there previously?

“Boss found something out...unfortunate before he created these locks. In that moment he tried to make it vague just in case something changed.” Friday answered hesitantly and Stephen turned to Rhodes as he spoke.

“Pepper and I already put in our verification but Tony’s soulmate is the one who left him to die.” Rhodes spat out before regaining his composure, “We can’t unlock it without him, so we were hoping you could find another way to find Banner.”

“Actually, I may be able to unlock it.” Rolling up his gloves from their edges ~~(making sure not to reveal his hands, scarred broken-)~~ to his wrist and held it out, showing the name written on it and Rhodes stared at it in shock.

“Friday scan his wrist and then scan Tony to verify it.” Wheeling over to Tony, Rhodes tugged the hospital gown down until Tony’s collarbone was revealed.

Going across his left collarbone was Stephen’s name.

“Holy shit.” Rhodes breathed as Friday scanned the name on Stephen’s wrist and the name on Tony’s collarbone from the cameras in the room.

“The names check in Colonel, Dr. Strange is Boss’s true soulmate.” Friday verified and Rhodes sagged in his seat, laughing breathlessly.

“We all thought he was your soulmate, but I always knew you deserved better.” Rhodes whispered to Tony and Stephen stood silent, knowing to respect a patient’s privacy, and within a minute Rhodes straightened up and was back in military mode.

“Alright, we have Banner’s location, are you able to do your magic and get him here?”

“If he’s willing to step through a portal, yes. I’ll go talk to him now and give you and Dr. Stark a minute.” Rhodes inclined his head, a small bit of gratefulness showing through his eyes, and Stephen opened up a portal to the coordinates of Banner’s last known location.

Determined to bring Banner back if it meant saving his soulmate.

“Whoa, what the hell-?” Bruce Banner spoke, no green in sight for now, and Stephen closed the portal. He didn’t know how long this would take, but for Tony’s benefit he hoped not too long.

“Hello Dr. Banner, my name is Stephen Strange. I was hoping to make a deal with you.”

“I was hoping to make a deal you.”

Bruce’s eyes widened as the Hulk growled in his head. Deal? Who was this guy, SHIELD maybe? Bruce thought Tony was keeping away any government agents or people like SHIELD.

~~(Maybe he stopped caring, Bruce had been gone for awhile without any contact.)~~

“Why are you here?” Bruce’s eyes darted place to place as he took in his options.

One male with unknown abilities and powers, presumably magic from the portal. Threat. Exits: One, to the left of both of them, no other immediate threats. No sound from outside.

“Dr. Stark needs help, he’s hurt, and you’re the only one with enough information to do it.” Bruce stopped short, staring at the magic user, Tony was hurt?

‘Tin Man hurt. Puny Banner go help or I make him help.’ The Hulk growled in his mind, solidifying Bruce’s decision. If Tony could treat him like he was an actual human that deserved the same treatment as everybody else, and went out of his way to make Bruce comfortable, then this was the least he could do.

Even if he had any doubts or hesitance, the Hulk would make him go one way or another.

“How do I know you’re telling the truth?” Still, true to his nature, Bruce was still wary. What happens if this man is lying about Tony and is just luring him in?

‘Magic man lies and Hulk smashes him.’

“Let me show you.” He watched as the man opened another portal and stepped through it, but this time leaving it open for Bruce to peak in warily. True to his word, Tony was on a hospital bed with Rhodes next to him in a wheelchair.

What happened?

Rhodes had his head bowed with one hand grasping Tony’s hand but when he heard the portal open and Bruce’s soft intake of breath he looked up, letting go of Tony, and put on the military mask once again.

“Banner, I’m glad to see you.” Bruce hurried over to Rhodes, through the portal, and shook his hand before looking over at Tony.

“Rhodes, do you know what happened?” Bruce asked quietly as he stared at his best friend, bruised and battered, and his heart ached. He could’ve been there to stop it, whatever happened, if he hadn’t ran away.

“I can’t disclose that information right now, but we need you to oversee the arc reactor surgery and guide the surgeons operating on him-you’re the only one with the greatest understanding of the arc reactor to do this.”

“The arc reactor? D-Does he need it? I thought he had a surgery to get the shrapnel out of his chest?” Bruce took off his glasses and cleaned them, a nervous habit he had so his hands could move, and Strange looked at him startled at the mention of shrapnel in Tony’s chest.

Bruce assumed he was new then, and either heard of the kidnapping in Afghanistan from the news or not at all.

“He did but he needs the arc reactor for the Extremis.” Rhodes responds and Bruce’s eyes widened.

“The Extremis? The last time Tony talked to me about it, it was only a rough idea he had with too many flaws. But, it has been awhile, and if Tony managed to iron out the lethal side effects then it could be compatible with the arc reactor. The reactor would serve as an beacon for Tony to easily connect with the Extremis and it would also be the source for the Extremis to connect with his body once it’s in, and how to get the Extremis into the body was one of the problems we were running into so it’d solve that-“ Bruce flushed as he realized he was rambling, but the two conscious people in the room seemed to appreciate it.

“You can find out about the nitty gritty in the lock, if you would open it?”

“Y-Yeah of course.” Bruce let Friday do the verification process as he stared at the screens.

Project: Chest Flashlight

Awaiting Input From...

Bruce Banner

James Rhodes

Pepper Potts

Bruce couldn’t help but snort at the name, because it was so like Tony, but he glanced over and immediately sobered up.

He had a job to do, so Tony could live another day to make up other silly names.

‘Puny Banner better not fail.’

Determined to set things right, Bruce focused on getting Tony back up on his feet again if only to at least try to set things right.

Steve stared at the screen in shock, and Clint let out a soft curse.

“What happened to Stark?” Clint questioned, something that was everyone’s mind, and Steve remembered the Tony he left behind ~~(bruised broken eyes filled with hurt-)~~ but this wasn’t him.

“Hey guys, did you miss me?” Steve’s chest ached at Tony’s words and the shock was slowly melting away, the warmth of seeing Tony alright doing it.

Tony looked younger, the laugh lines gone from his face, his hair fuller, and his general body was younger. His body didn’t seem to hold the world on its shoulders anymore, and Tony stood straight, with muscles that were always there from manning Iron Man showing through his fitted suit.

Steve liked the look on him.

“I know the questions you’re going to ask and no this isn’t replicable, mostly because Extremis is dangerous and shouldn’t be put out to the public. But, thanks to the help of my comrades and my insight to look into this, the Extremis is not the explosive virus that the press knows, so no worries of me suddenly exploding.” The reporters chuckled at that, and Steve was glad Tony made it out okay even if he still had doubts about Extremis, from what he heard it put Pepper’s life in danger and these “comrades” didn’t sound very reliable.

The TV suddenly got louder and Steve jolted back into reality to see Tony stepping off the stage, throwing up a signature peace sign as he walked off, ignoring the questions the reporters were asking. It was shut off and everyone slowly dispersed, some (Clint and Wanda) muttering about how Tony didn’t deserve to it and that it should be given out to people that actually need it, and the rest said nothing.

Steve let it rest, it wouldn’t help Bucky and Tony seemed to benefit from it, and he hoped that after they get pardoned, the team could forgive Tony and help the laugh lines appear and bring joy into his life.

Steve would be sure to help them bridge the path to forgiveness.

One by one they came, and Tony felt something akin to hope grow in his chest.

First was Hope van Dyne, the Wasp, who Tony was initially wary of from his first encounter with Ant-Man (which was unimpressive to say the least) until she expressed her apologies for what Lang did and firmly stated that what he used the suit for was not the intentions of what the Pyms had initially given him the suit for.

For someone to apologize on the behalf of someone else ~~(what Tony had been doing before for Steve and the others, even the Witch-)~~ it already softened Tony but his walls were kept firmly in place-even when she willingly signed the Accords with no fuss because she took the initiative and actually read it.

It was only after some months after fighting together, living together, and talking with one another that Tony began to trust her. If he was to look back, he’d say that the point where he really let her in was when she came rushing into his room after he had a nightmare that was filled with red when Friday alerted her he was unresponsive to her calls and may need a physical presence there. Hope had knelt down carefully to where he was pressed in the corner of the room, concern written across her face, ~~(unlike Natasha who always came in with an exasperated look on her face, but she was better than the others)~~ and gave him the space he needed and just talked until he calmed down.

He tried to profusely apologize for Friday grabbing her to help him, but she quickly quieted him with her glare.

‘Friday can call me whenever she likes, especially if it’s to help you. I know the gist of what happened with you and the fugitives and I’m not going to be like that. As you’re teammate I’m here to help you, not beat you down, and when more people come to sign the Accords I’ll be sure to make sure they get that in their head or there’ll be hell to pay.’

Stephen Strange came next and Tony didn’t know how to feel about him. They were on two complete opposite spectrums, magic being the ban of any scientist’s existence, and even then Tony himself didn’t have a good track record with magic in general. But he was Sorcerer Supreme, which made him a powerful ally that Tony couldn’t afford to turn away, and with new magic users popping up Tony couldn’t deny the fact that sticking to science wasn’t going to work anymore if he wanted to protect Earth for threats.

On the planet and off it.

More allies came through to sign the Accords and the way Tony looked at it, the ones that had already formed their own teams were still in their own “groups” but one could always call upon the others in time of need. Steve always insisted that the Avengers should remain on their own and trust only each other, but Tony knew that now the Avengers couldn’t afford to remain the lone wolves and it’s better to reach out and get more allies.

The ones on their own were offered rooms at the Avenger Initiative and soon Tony found he had himself his own group of a team, a real team that Tony could call his family.

Oh, there was also a new name on his collarbone that freaked Tony out but whatever. He didn’t understand why it changed, and he was too scared to reach out to his soulmate to see if they knew.

Stephen Strange.

Tony hadn’t noticed the new name until one night after he had taken a shower, he casually glanced at the mirror and his gaze had been drawn to his collarbone.

His gaze had always been drawn to that area, when he was a child he would stare at the name written above his collarbone for hours because he knew that Steve would have to come back if he was Tony’s soulmate, and that Howard would find him eventually.

Some days, that was the only thing that gave him the motivation to get up when he was younger.

When he was shipped off to go to MIT, he learned to hide his soulmate mark. It became embarrassing for him to wear Steve’s name and show it off, he was gone and maybe Tony was just born in the wrong time. Or maybe it wasn’t actually the Steven Grant Rogers that his father always told him about and it was just a stranger that coincidentally had the same name.

When Tony met Steve for the first time he made sure to wear a shirt that would hide the name, which wasn't exactly hard since it was right above his collarbone, as he didn’t know where Steve’s soul mark was and he didn’t want to pressure him into anything. Their meeting was tense and harsh, and by the way Steve looked at him Tony felt like he was missing something.

He didn’t realize until later the look was one of disgust.

When he did, he was confused. Sure, not all soul mates become romantic, but he never heard of soul enemies before (it’d be just his luck for him to be the first one to have a soul enemy). Then, after the whole Ultron fiasco, Steve offered to forgive Tony and stuck out his hand to shake on it when Tony saw it on his wrist.

James Buchanan Barnes

Tony heard of Barnes, if Howard wasn’t talking about Steve he was talking about Captain America’s right hand man.

His eyes widened and he quickly shook Steve’s hand before making his way downstairs, internally cursing himself out. Of course Steve wasn’t his soulmate, no wonder why they didn’t seem to even get along. When he reached his lab, he quickly changed Bruce’s location lock and then he stilled.

Steve could never know.

He knew Steve would always choose Barnes over him but it hurt when it actually happened and combined with the swelling of grief he thought was long over (then again he had just seen his parents during the BARF experiment) Tony lashed out.

He didn’t plan on killing either of them and he thought he showed pretty good restraint, the only time he truly lashed out was when Barnes reaches for the arc reactor and that was an automatic defense mechanism plus even then he didn’t go for the kill, but obviously Steve didn’t see it that way.

Blood, so much blood everywhere, a shield laid on the ground and he could barely breath help help help-

He didn’t want to take a second chance of someone not having his name on their skin.

“Hello Tony.” Hope said as she walked into the living room, where Tony was typing on the tablet trying to take his mind off of his dilemma.

“What’s up Hope?” Tony saved one last thing before turning to look at Hope, and could tell something was about to be spoken he might not like.

“Stephen wants you to learn magic and I personally agree.”

“I'm sorry?” Tony pushed off the couch and stood up, and Hope knew it would be a battle by the way Tony’s face was quickly shutting down and his posture went on defensive.

A battle she didn’t know if she could win.

“Well we think it could benefit you-“

“Magic? Hello, do you know my track record with magic? I’m more of a science guy. Not to mention, Stephen is our magic dude.”

“Stephen won’t be here to help all the time, he’s still Sorcerer Supreme and has his own separate duties.”

“And I’m still the owner of Stark Industries, not to mention leading engineer to create and make new ideas for SI and I still have a controlling interest in projects that get passed through. I have to create, sign, and go to meetings for SI, both of us are busy but that doesn’t mean I have to learn magic for when he’s not around.”

“We don’t want anything like Wanda to happen again Tony.”

“Stephen put protection charms on us.”

“But they aren’t a guarantee, up against Stephen’s magic they went down after one attack. What happens if someone tries to attack you with magic? They’ll hit you once and the shield will cover you but after that?”

“I’ve collaborated with Stephen and the Bleeding Edge armor is able to take magical attacks and with the armor literally underneath my skin I can call it up by will and protect myself.”

“But-“

“No. Hope this conversation is over, and I won’t be learning magic.” Hope knew the battle was over by Tony’s steady but firm look. She knew the look, Tony gave it to his Board and even to Pepper when he was serious about something. A lot of people underestimated Tony and forgot how he lead a multi-billion company, but they were quickly reminded when they tried to take advantage of his relax and seemingly carefree attitude.

“Alright, I respect your decision.”

“Dr. Strange, Boss is in need of your assistance.” Friday called out to the sorcerer, who was meditating in his room in the Stark Tower.

“Tony? What’s wrong? Is he okay?” Stephen asked as he stood up, Tony seldom asked for his help at night as he was usually working on other things that didn’t require a surgeon or a sorcerer.

“Physically, yes. But his pulse is climbing rapidly and he seems to be stuck in a nightmare. Colonel Rhodes would be the first I would contact, but he is currently away and can not help Boss and this holds true for the Wasp as well. Miss. Potts has been switched to be a last resort only, so you’re next on the list.”

“Is he in his room?”

“Yes, a elevator has been prepared for you.”

“No need.” Stephen opened a portal to Tony’s room and stepped through it, surveying the room. Bed sheets were thrown to the ground and pillows tossed aside, but in all that chaos laid Tony on his bed whimpering and thrashing about.

“Tony?” Stephen took a step closer but his voice didn’t break through the nightmare that held the person in question tight. After trying a couple more times Stephen knew he didn’t have any other choice, especially when Tony’s nails started digging into his own skin.

He had to enter Tony’s mind.

Entering the mind, especially when it’s dreaming, was extremely intrusive and a violation of privacy. If someone entered the mind with the intent to hurt, then without proper protections they can do so easily. Dreams are more dangerous, for both the dreamer and the magic user.

It’s dangerous for the dreamer because if the dream was a memory, then anything out of the ordinary could warp the memory permanently. On the other hand, if the magic user gets wrapped up in what’s being viewed, they can get stuck in the dream state, where they’ll integrate themselves as apart of the dream because they believe that the dream was their reality. If the dreams move too fast and the magic user doesn’t have the mental stability to handle it, the magic user can be harmed mentally.

But he had no choice.

Taking a deep breath, Stephen let his magic flow from his fingers and to Tony’s head. His magic casts a warm golden glow in the room and it was the last thing he saw before he crumpled to the floor as his magic entered Tony’s mind.

‘Please don’t change the channel. It’s his favorite show.’

‘Pepper!’

‘This wasn’t the plan! Stick to the plan!’

‘Rhodey! Friday check his vitals!’

Stephen knew he was coming into a nightmare, nobody having a peaceful dream would be thrashing, but this...

Tony always seemed to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders, and now Stephen knew why, even if it wasn’t his fault. Before he could dwell on what he saw further, Happy, Miss. Potts, Yinsen, and Rhodes, the memories disappeared and left him in darkness.

‘Everyone creates the thing they dread...’

‘I tried to create a suit of armor around the world, but I created something terrible.’

Stephen looked in front of him to see Tony and Ultron standing back to back, each talking to someone Stephen couldn’t see. He quickly casts an invisibility spell to conceal himself from the dreamer and suddenly they both disappear with chilling words from Wanda Maximoff as she appears with a smirk on her lips.

‘I wanted him to face his fear, to create something we could use against him.’

The room changed, the blackness around them gaining colors of a background, and suddenly Stephen was somewhere he didn’t recognize.

‘I’ve got eyes on the prize.’ Spinning around, Stephen saw Tony walking towards him and quickly stepped out of the way to see Tony stop in front of a scepter.

He saw Wanda walk behind him and hover her hands to the sides of Tony’s head, and saw Tony’s eyes flash red before there was a noise and he turned around to see-

The Avengers.

Space, with all the stars above them, and Earth in front of them.

Was this Tony’s greatest fear? The Avengers dead?

The person in question hurried over to Rogers, kneeling down and pressing his fingers to his neck to check for his pulse.

‘Why didn’t you do more?’

‘You could’ve saved us.’

Stephen startled at Roger’s voice and the sudden movement of him grabbing Tony’s wrist. He watched as Tony’s eyes widen at the accusation and fill with fear, and he knew he was wrong.

Tony’s greatest fear wasn’t the Avengers dying.

His greatest fear is not being able to save them, when he could’ve. Not protecting the ones he cares for.

And if he thought about it, it wasn’t only Avengers. Yinsen, Rhodes, Pepper and Happy he wanted to save or avenge and he did one way or another.

With Yinsen he blew up the terrorist camp, killing their captors to avenge the doctor he spent three months with.

Pepper didn’t really need avenging considering the Extremis saved her from the fire, but Tony tried to save her and when he thought she was dead he tried to avenge her even though he knew fully well he was at a disadvantage.

Happy was in the hospital and when viewing the memory Stephen could see the anger burning in Tony’s eyes, the anger that rose rarely but when it did anyone could see the darkness of his past.

Rhodes was shot down and Tony did everything he could to get him back to his maximum potential, pushing himself day and night to finish what helps Rhodes walk today, and if there’s one thing that makes Tony’s eyes flare in anger and set his jaw is the reminder of what happened to Rhodes. The man himself presently just shrugs it off and tells them it was apart of his job and he knew what he was getting into when he went with Tony to subdue the Rouges, but when he first worked with Rhodes after Tony woke up he had different emotions to it. He still firmly told Tony he knew what he was getting into, that belief never changed, but when Tony wasn’t looking and babbling about getting Rhodes to walk again, Rhodes would look away and there would be grim acceptance in his eyes. Stephen could understand that, Rhodes was certainly handling the loss of a limb (even if it was still attached it’s useless) better than Stephen himself, but being able to relate to what Rhodes was going through meant he was also privy to the helplessness in his eyes.

Stephen knew the gist of Rhodes’s life story, met Tony at MIT and always wanted to be in the military it seemed, and knew that this man has always been in a career to help others. Being a military man it made sense he sided with the Accords, it was about accountability and responsibility of course he would, but being in positions where he needed his legs (because what’s a soldier in a wheelchair and the War Machine wasn’t built in a way where legs wouldn’t be needed, but Tony would probably find a way to make them unnecessary if it came down to it) Stephen knew that even though Rhodes accepted there was a high possibility of not being able to use his legs, it hurt to know that he was useless.

Tony would argue with him until his face turned blue if Rhodes mentioned this feeling out loud back then and both Stephen and him knew that it wasn’t necessarily true as there was options to where he could work in a wheelchair, and if there wasn’t then Tony would certainly make a job position, but both of Rhodes’s careers needed his legs and without them he was useless to them.

He was useless to the thing he was doing all his life and committed everything to.

Looking back on the scene, he saw the bodies flicker slightly and his eyes widened. For a quick second the bodies were those of the New Avengers.

Stephen, Hope, Peter, Bruce and Rhodes.

Just as quick as it appeared it disappeared, but Stephen saw that Tony had a new family to protect and it wasn’t the Rogues.

Tony saw them too and turned around quickly, harshly blinking the red away, and faced off with Wanda.

“Stay away from me, Witch.”

“Oooh, the man who would cut the wire suddenly grew a backbone? I’m surprised Stark.” Wanda’s voice blended with Steve’s from a time Stephen didn’t know about, and Tony flinched back at the comment before straightening.

“I won’t let you hurt them. You already did to Bruce and me, I won’t let them go through what they did. They don’t deserve it, and neither did Bruce.”

“Hm, funny you say that Merchant, because you didn’t mention yourself when you said that. Do you think you deserve it? I think you do, but here’s the funny thing. I won’t do anything to them,” Wanda took a step forward and Tony stiffened but held his ground, “no, it won’t be me. It’ll be you.” Faster than Stephen could track Wanda lunged forward and pressed her hands on the sides of Tony’s temple who’s eyes filled with red before receding into maroon, mixing in with his natural brown eyes.

“Tony?” Hearing his own voice startled Stephen and was a harsh reminder that this was a dream, and he turned around and stilled.

Iron Man had subdued the entire team, the Hulk reverting back to Bruce with a dart and chains binding him. The rest were all bonded too and Tony only had his gauntlets on with Wanda standing behind him. Dream Stephen was staring up at Tony with confusion and a sharp hint of betrayal in his eyes and tugging at his binds uselessly.

The actual Stephen didn’t know how the binds were holding back dream him and his magic, but it was a dream so some aspects of it didn’t have to make sense.

“Don’t make me do this.” Tony’s voice broke and tears were running down his face, but this Dream Wanda didn’t seem to care.

Stephen doubted the actual Wanda would care either.

“Oh, I’m not making you do this.” Tony called three other suits and they pointed their own repulsors on his command at the New Avengers.

“You’re doing it by yourself.” Tony’s eyes receded back to their normal brown but by then it was too late, both the creator and his creations had fired their shots. Wanda was gone from behind him and the New Avengers were dead in front of him.

Tony fell to the ground, screaming and sobbing, hands weaving themselves in his hair, and looked up to see one of the suits pointing their repulsor at him. Tony merely smiled in relief with tears streaming down his face and a tightness in his chest, and closed his eyes. Stephen’s eyes widen and before he could remember this was a dream there was a sound of a repulsor firing and blackness as words were spoken.

‘Ready aim fire was more of your father’s thing.’

A new scene was rapidly building itself and it was one Stephen didn’t recognize.

It happened too fast for Stephen to decipher the words coming out of Obadiah's mouth because strangely the words weren’t registering in the dream, replaced with a sharp ringing noise, but he saw the man take the arc reactor out of Tony’s chest and smile mockingly down at the engineer, who’s eyes widen and were quickly becoming bloodshot.

Cardiac arrest.

The scene sped up, blurring together with old memories of when Howard was alive and Obadiah was Tony’s second father figure, and stopped when Tony was forced to kill him.

Stephen’s heart aches for this man, his soulmate, because the memories of Obadiah when Tony was younger seemed to be cherished by the younger version of Tony, and here he was forced to kill this second father figure for the better of the world.

‘You’re not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you.’

Stephen whirls around on instinct and it’s chaos.

‘Did you know?’

Metal against metal, two against one.

‘No.’

Stephen saw that despite the hazy red vision Tony must be experiencing, he never used the armor’s full capabilities.

‘Don’t bullshit me Rogers!’

December 16, 1991.

‘How long?’

An arm and a shield were left behind.

‘He’s my friend.’

And with them was a man, a broken and flawed man who tried to do everything he did in the name of good.

‘So was I.’

And suddenly everything stopped.

Stephen woke up with a jolt, waving away his magic, and scrambled to stand from his place on the floor to reach Tony.

“Stephen?” Tony seemed to already have an awareness that Stephen was trying to gain himself, pushing past the fog in his mind as it tried to process the new memories it gained from viewing Tony’s, and was staring at the sorcerer. He internally wondered how often Tony had nightmares for him to be already so aware after just coming out of one.

“I know this looks weird but I was trying to wake you up and I used my magic to create a calmer glow to the room but I was panicking and it came out too fast and knocked me down.” Stephen scrambled for an excuse and Tony accepted the lie he made up with ease, probably because he didn’t have the evidence to refute what he just said, and the genius looked down at his hands before looking back up at Stephen with his jaw set.

“I want to learn magic.” Stephen blinked in surprise, that’s not what he was expecting. Especially with that hell of a nightmare.

“I’ll teach you, if you have the potential to use magic, but any particular reason why?”

“Hope was right, I need to be better equipped to fight off people like the Witch. I need to be able to protect everyone from all possible threats.”

All possible threats.

Tony was talking about himself. He saw himself as a threat to others if the Witch or anyone similar got a handle on him.

It was understandable after seeing his nightmare of them dying at his hands, and if there was one thing that Stephen knew about Tony was that he would do anything to protect those he deemed worth protecting.

“Alright, when do you want to start?”

“Tomorrow.”

“You have to relax.”

“I am.”

“Yeah, tell that to your stiff muscles.”

“I just don’t understand why this is important, or even relevant.” Tony muttered and Stephen smirked at the similarities he draws between the two of them when he first started to learn mystic arts too.

“Your body has to be prepared too.”

“My body is prepared, have you seen the things I do in the armor? That’s not easy y’know, I have to be flexible and strong enough.” Tony defended, and Strange absolutely agreed because he had seen how Tony’s body moved and wow-

Stephen stopped those thoughts there.

“Of course, but doing this exercise can’t hurt. We’ll start after, you just have to stop complaining.”

“I just don’t see the need to meditate. How the hell is that going to help me do magic?” Tony shifted in his position and tried to relax his muscles, to no avail.

“It’s a mix of both your mind and your body. It helps.”

“Y’know, Bruce tried to get me to mediate a couple times but there was only one time he actually succeeded.” Tony said after awhile, and Strange peeked an eye open to see that Tony had finally relaxed and is managing to keep his eyes closed.

“Oh? Maybe I should ask him for some tips.”

“Well you’re doing just fine doctor.” Tony flashed him a full-teeth smile, as if knowing Strange was watching him. For all he knew, Tony probably did. “But what resulted in me standing still for an hour was amazing and catastrophic.”

“That makes me morbidly curious, do go on.”

“Well I managed to figure out a way to upgrade the armor so I could have coffee inside it, but after awhile Cap-Rogers banned it from going in battle. Said it made me too jittery, but he’s an old man so what does he know. I did manage to get a couple laughs out of the Hulk from doing barrel rolls midair while shooting robots in the face so I’m counting it as a win.”

“Well with that kind of willpower I’m sure you won’t have any trouble learning magic.”

“Hopefully. Heard from Wong you were a mess at first, and I’m hoping I’m going to do better than Sorcerer Supreme.” Tony cracked a grin, eyes still closed, and Stephen snorted as he felt a strange feeling of fondness settle in his chest. Seeing Tony so open, relaxed and cracking jokes, made him feel this fondness and he hoped he’d feel a lot more of it in the future. Even if Tony wasn’t interested in pursuing a relationship, a topic neither of them breached yet, Stephen was content with just standing by his side, facing the world together.

“We’ll see about that. Get up, we’re going to start.”

“Thank god,” Tony finally opened his eyes and stretched as he rose, “I don’t know how much longer I was going to last.”

“Okay Mr. Dramatic.” Stephen rolled his eyes, amused, as he stood up and Tony made an affronted noise.

“It’s actually Doctor Dramatic,” At Stephen’s raise of an eyebrow, Tony puffed up, “you pull that move all the time so don’t look like that. You’re not the only one with a doctoral.”

“Okay Doctor Stark, lets get this started before I teleport you into sub zero.”

“Wow and here I thought we were finally getting along, first name basis and everything.” Tony said, bumping shoulders with Stephen playfully as they walked into the garden outside, and Stephen turned around once he was a few feet in front of Tony.

“You have the sling right?” At Tony’s wave of his hand, the one that had what he asked for on it, Stephen continued. “Good, now follow my movements,” He went slowly, knowing it might take Tony a couple of times to get the movement down, “and think of somewhere you want to be.”

Tony took a deep breath, face going from playful to serious in a moment, and he closed his eyes to think of a place before nodding, opening his eyes and tracing Stephen’s movements in the air. Nothing happened, but he had already gotten assurance from Stephen that it was completely normal to not get it on the first try. It still frustrated Tony, after a couple of times doing it, because he wasn’t used to not getting something right away. It was why he had multiple degrees, it was why he was called a genius, and he didn’t like knowing that his best efforts weren’t enough.

Stephen obviously saw the frustration on his face, because he stopped Tony’s hand from attempting another move with his own.

“Stop, you’re obviously getting frustrated and nothing gets done when someone is frustrated.” Stephen released his hand and Tony felt a flicker of disappointment before he squashed it.

“I just don’t understand it, it’s not like you can take mystic arts as an elective in school.” Tony released a frustrated breath, “If there was applicable laws, maybe I could learn, but this is way out of my depth. I’m the science guy, not the magic one! I want to learn, but I don’t know if I can.”

“I was just like you when I first started. I came from a medical background, a surgeon, and just like you I believe in the rules of science. Magic was a child’s thought, fake and unreliable, and the only reason I sought it out was because I was desperate and didn’t really know what I was getting into. When the Ancient One showed me a glimpse of the truth, I was hooked. It took me awhile too, and some rule breaking, but I learned it and I have full faith you can too. If an arrogant, asshole of a surgeon can learn magic than so can genius, billionaire Tony Stark.” Tony cracked a smile when he said that, and nodded.

“Yeah, okay.” Tony took another deep breath and looked at Stephen with determination, “I’m going to do this. But, stay by my side and show my how to do it? So I can see it up close.” Stephen nodded at Tony’s request and repeated the portal movements.

A couple more movements, and sparks started to appear. Tony whooped and got distracted, causing the golden sparks to disappear.

“I almost did it!” Tony said excitedly, and Stephen watched on with the fondness seeping deeper in his chest.

“Good, now don’t get too excited when you see them and see if you can make a full portal.” Tony nodded again and focused on the air in front of him, confirming where he wanted to go on last time, and doing the motion he had been for the last hour again.

And this time a portal was opened.

“I did it! I actually did it!” Tony laughed as he inspected what he did, and Strange was genuinely happy for his accomplishment.

“And you didn’t even have to be pushed through a portal to do it, good job.” Tony raised an eyebrow at his comment.

“What does that mean-never mind,” Tony shook his head and motioned towards the portal, “you can tell me all about it during lunch, if you don’t mind stepping through the portal.” Tony made a sweeping gesture to the portal as he bowed, and Stephen snorted.

“What a gentlemen.” Passing through the portal, Stephen looked around before turning to the portal. “Are you coming through? It is your portal after all.”

“Yeah yeah of course.” Tony seemed to struggled with something, making an aborted move to go through the portal, before gritting his teeth and pushing past whatever was stopping him. He stepped through the portal and closed it seamlessly, the motion coming to him that he has seen Strange do. He stared at the air where the portal was with a grimace, not saying anything.

“Are you okay Tony?” Stephen asked gently, and the genius was shaken out of his thoughts at the voice.

“Yeah, I just never thought I’d go through another portal again. Willingly too.” Tony stared at the air one more time before spinning around and putting his back to it, clapping his hands. “Alright! Let’s get inside!”

“What is this place anyway?” Stephen looked in front of them and Tony lead the way inside. Only after they were seated did Tony answer.

“Its an Italian place my mom always used to bring me to, when she had the time anyway, and they have pretty good food so I decided after a magic training session what better place to go to then this?” Tony picked up the menu, which Stephen guesses was more of a courtesy thing than actually needing to read the menu, and Stephen followed his lead.

They chatted idly as they ate and Strange thought it was a nice da-evening.

He was about to make a portal back to the Avengers tower when Tony stopped him.

“I’d rather do it.”

“Why? To practice more?” Stephen teases lightly and Tony smiled thinly.

“Something like that.” Before Stephen could question further, Tony worked on getting a portal opened. It took three times, which reminded Stephen they needed to work on that, but he finally opened it.

“After you.” Tony said playfully, and Stephen stepped through easily. The engineer hesitated slightly before following him through. Strange notices reoccurring elements in Tony and knew they had to work through it before Tony could continue learning the mystic arts.

“Do you have a problem with portals?”

“What? No, of course not.” Tony said defensively, but the way his eyes darted away for a moment before focusing back on him told Stephen all he needed to know.

“Tony we have to talk this out to move on and help you conquer your fear.”

“Why? Does it really matter?”

“Yes, it does. Don’t think I don’t notice how you make me go first, or that it has to be your portal for you to go through it.” After they had a stare-down, Tony sighed.

“I went through a portal and saw something Stephen. That’s when I knew that there’s something bigger, something beyond the Avengers, in the universe and it can become a threat. That was the whole idea behind Ultron, something to protect us from the inevitable and while it didn’t work that doesn’t mean it won’t be necessary. I flew a nuke into space, certain I was going to die, and what I saw wasn’t some half-assed efforts of a crazed god. It was bigger than even Loki’s ambitions, and it was dangerous.” Tony took a deep breath, and his eyes were so haunted.

Stephen wished he could soothe the genius, but he didn’t know how.

“They told me that part of me died when I was kidnapped, and they were right. They didn’t tell me that again when I flew that nuke into space, but if they had they’d be right again.” Stephen sucked in a harsh breath, but Tony didn’t seem to hear. Didn’t seem to see him either. “When I was held in that cave for three months, the part of me that sat back and let everything take it’s course died. I never liked making weapons, and what happened just reaffirmed that feeling, but before I had let Stane do what he wished with me and the company as long as I was allowed my little side projects. After Yinsen, I couldn’t just sit back and be okay with my little acts of kindness, I couldn’t let myself think that those little acts could make up for all the deaths I caused.”

Stephen wanted to tell him that making clean energy for the world wasn’t small, but Tony wasn’t done talking.

“When I came back from the death I was so sure of, the part of me that was convinced I was doing everything I could died too. That protecting Earth with what I had was enough. It wasn’t, and probably never will be. Not on my own anyway. The Avengers were barely a team, and we were never stable enough to take on whatever is up there. I saw this, and I also saw an opportunity to make up for this weakness so I took it. I will never be able to do enough, but maybe as a collective group we can be.”

“We will.” Stephen vowed and, after a moment of hesitation, drew Tony into a hug. The genius stiffened before relaxing into the hug, letting himself enjoy a moment of comfort and then stepping back.

“So?” At Stephen’s confusion, Tony quirked his lips up into a small smile. “Is that enough talking for me to continue learning about magic? Or all you going to keep all your party tricks to yourself?” Never let it be said that Tony Stark didn’t know how to lighten the mood. Stephen snorted and rolled his eyes as the somber mood was broken, waving his hand dismissively.

“I suppose so. We’ll have to continue more tomorrow, we have a movie night to go to.” Stephen walked towards the tower and looked back to Tony. “Coming?”

‘Stark, you’re making this too difficult! Just come to the movie night!’

‘Fuck off Rogers I don’t have to! Your witch will probably screw me over anyway!’

“Yeah, obviously.” Tony walked to where Stephen was and they walked towards the tower together. “Hope would kill me if I missed it, and you know I hate disappointing Peter.”

“Who doesn’t hate disappointing him, he has the sad puppy dog look perfected.”

“King T’Challa, to what do I owe the pleasure?” Tony asks politely as he sits down across from the king, glancing at the two guards standing besides the king before focusing back on the person himself as he smiles kindly.

“I was looking to join the initiative you run, the Avengers?” T’Challa responded and, while he kept the same smile on his face, Tony was confused momentarily. Why was he looking to join the Avengers when he was acting so aloof towards it?

‘Oh...I get it.’ Tony didn’t express anything outward, but internally he was close to scoffing. It was ridiculous, to want to be apart of something and yet act like he was doing them a favor by attempting to join. T'Challa reminded him or his younger self, the arrogant one that would toss money and his prestige around carelessly, but just like Tony, T'Challa would also grow wiser.

“Of course, unfortunately I don’t solely run the Avengers. I’m merely a leader for a team, to become an Avenger you have to go through the chain of the command-starting with the Accords.”

“My skills shown in the battle were not enough?” The king asked, arrogantly, and Tony shook his head in a sympathetic way.

Internally, he was rolling his eyes.

“No, while it was an impressive feat the Accords still need to verify you. Showing up to a battle isn’t enough. Not to be rude, but is the Avengers all you came here to talk about? I’m sure talking to a councilman would’ve been easier.” Tony asked politely, and T’Challa straightened in his seat to prepare what he was about to say next.

“No that was not all I was here to talk about, thank you for the information though. Wakanda is looking to start global affairs, including trade, and Stark Industries is one of the biggest global companies known. I came here to ask for your support when Wakanda opens to the world.”

“Global affairs?” Tony whistled. “Well, to start, are you sure Wakanda is ready for that?”

“I’m sorry?” The king asked, bordering on demanding, and Tony maintained his smile.

“Well, going global requires a lot of attention and concentration. You also need to start out smooth, no bad reputation right off the bat. Are you sure with your...visitors, you’re equipped to handle all of that?” Tony asked, and T’Challa couldn’t keep the surprise of his face. Likewise, his guards shifted subtly but enough for Tony to notice.

“My visitors?” T’Challa feigned ignorance and Tony brought up a hologram with a flick of his wrist. On the hologram was a map, with a bright red mark on Wakanda.

“You’d think spies would know to turn off technology given to them by a tech genius, huh? I mean Rogers is to be expected, but I’m disappointed in Romanov and Barton.” Tony let the hologram sit between them for a moment more before swiping it away. “So I’m going to ask again, is Wakanda prepared to have all eyes on them?”

“Who knows about this?” This time, T’Challa was demanding and Tony shrugged before responding.

“A couple trustworthy people, including myself and Friday obviously. King T’Challa, if you really do want to go global you’re going to have to put your country first. All eyes will be on you and your country, one wrong slip up can damage your reputation for good and cause your stock markets to crash. Depending on the severity, it can be hard to recover and your visitors certainly aren’t a small problem.”

“I doubt they’d be discovered.” Back to arrogance it seemed which is fine for Tony, he’s had tougher clients before.

“Even so, like you said my company is a global one and so am I-as both Iron Man and Tony Stark. That being said, while you may be content with risking your country and business I am not.” Tony stood up, T’Challa following, and he handed the king a card. “That’s an Accord councilman that can get your process started.”

“Thank you for your hospitality Doctor Stark.” They shook hands and T’Challa made his way to the door.

“I’ll see you in two weeks, whether you’ve decided to put your country first or not.” A warning, and a time limit.

T’Challa left without another word and Tony rolled his eyes as he walked into the living room.

“So? How’d it go?” Stephen asked calmly as Hope, Peter, Bruce, and Stephen himself sat in the living room, eyes on Tony.

“Don’t act like you didn’t watch the whole thing with your magic.” Tony snorted as he sat down next to the magic user, putting his legs on him and Bruce as he laid sprawled on the couch. He hooked his ankles together at the head and watched, amused, as Bruce began to take off his shoes from where his feet laid on his lap.

“Well we did but you can still act like we didn’t.” Stephen offered, and Tony laughed.

“Alright fine. It went fine, T’Challa tried to use his status and skills to convince me to not only let him join the Avengers without any other authority overseeing his process but also support his country when it opens to global affairs while having the fugitives in his country.”

“He thought it’d actually work?” Peter asked in disbelief, and Tony shrugged.

“I'm assuming he thought I'd be a pushover, probably getting the information from the others.”

“I’m beginning to think that they're all idiots.” Hope added, electing a laugh from everybody.

Tony smiles contently from where he was, looking around at his family. Sure, they all faced the threat of being killed when they go out to do their job as superheroes and they all had annoying traits but they had each other’s back and Tony wouldn’t change anything about them.

As long as he lived (and probably after) he’d make sure that all of them were safe and protected to the best of his abilities.

Anxiety tightened his chest to the point where he felt like he was barely breathing. His collarbone was raw and red from where he had been rubbing it furiously with soap and water, trying to get rid of the name. It had to be a mistake, Steve had a different name on his wrist. But, no matter how much he scrubbed it wouldn’t come off.

‘Change the name in file 01754983 to Tony Stark’s soulmate.’

‘Are you sure Boss?’ He had made FRIDAY awhile ago, thinking he could incorporate her into the armor and keep Jarvis around the house and monitoring his company, and he was glad he did.

The lab was dreadfully silent without an AI uploaded into it. It was only him and FRIDAY, as ~~(Jarvis)~~ Vision and the rest were upstairs-celebrating their victory with a HYDRA witch.

‘Yes,’ Tony confirmed and then, quieter, ‘I can’t take any chances.’

“A date?” Tony asked, amused and curious, and Stephen nods confidently.

“Dinner and a stroll? Movies are too cheesy and don’t allow for any talking to occur, and staying here is too normal.” Stephen explains his plans, purely logical and cute in Tony’s opinion, and he agrees.

“Sure, professional?”

“Yes, I’ll be around at 7:00.” Stephen turns around coolly as he begins the motions of opening a portal, having to somehow convince Wong to take student duty tonight, and Tony smiles at his obvious flair of showing off.

Once Stephen was gone, Tony opened his phone and called his tailor.

“Yes, hello? I’m going to need to borrow you for an hour, I have a very important meeting that I need to look nice for.” Tony smirked as he walked back to his room, his tailor telling him that he’d be there in 20 minutes. “No need, I’ll have my bodyguard come get you.” Technically Happy wasn’t his bodyguard, head of security instead, but oh well.

When 7:00 struck there was a knock on his bedroom door, and Tony fixed his tie before opening his door to see Stephen.

“You look nice.” Tony complimented easily, because it was true. Stephen was dressed in a dark navy blue suit, outfit fitting his body snugly and he was even color coordinated.

Well almost.

He had a bright yellow tie on to accompany his bright yellow gloves, but luckily Tony had already predicted this.

“Thank you-where are we going?” Stephen asked, confused, as Tony pulled him into his room and shut the door behind them. Tony rummaged through his closet and produced a black tie and black gloves.

“We are giving you more color coordination.” Tony declared, making his way to Stephen, and winked playfully. “I can’t be seen with someone that dresses colorblind, now can I?”

“I suppose not.” Stephen relented, and examined the black gloves Tony had gotten him. “My skin-“

“Is texture sensitive, I know. I got gloves that are specifically designed to avoid that, don’t worry.” They stood still for a moment and Tony laid down the clothing items hurriedly. “I’ll leave if you want me to-“

“No, no stay.” Stephen grabs Tony by the wrist, and silence falls. “I don’t mind.” They both knew the implications of it, the vulnerability Stephen is showing by letting him stay, and Tony nodded hesitantly.

“Okay, only if you want.”

“I do.” Stephen says earnestly, and then took it a step further. “If you don’t mind, can you put them on? My hands shake, a lot, and I don’t want to...” He trailed off, but Tony was already peeling his gloves off his skin gently and when he took off the left glove he stilled at name written on Stephen’s wrist.

His name.

“What? Didn’t expect to see your name there?” Stephen asked wryly, and Tony didn’t respond as he continued to stare at the cursive writing-like his own signature. “I don’t know if you notice, but my name is right above your collarbone.” Stephen joked, and Tony forced out a laugh.

“Yeah, I know. But the last time that name wasn’t exactly true, so it’s hard not to be skeptical.” Tony answered dryly, and Stephen winced at the reminder. It also put into perspective that Tony didn’t know the true story of why his first soulmate mark was wrong, something Stephen would have to explain soon.

“I know.” Stephen responded softly, and Tony closed his eyes. When he opened them, whatever had passed between them was gone and Tony was back to the jovial self he had been when Stephen first knocked.

“Alright, let’s get these gloves and tie on so you can take me on a date.” Despite his bravo, Tony’s touch was gentle against Stephen's shaking hands as he carefully slipped on the gloves-Stephen himself tense and ready for the pain that was sure to come when Tony accidentally slipped up.

Except he never did.

Only after Tony started on the tie did Stephen relax, the previously stiff muscles loosening and he adapted a more relaxed pose.

“I could’ve done it myself.” Stephen said, again amused, and Tony smiled.

“Well since you’re taking me out, this is the least I could do.” Tony took a step back and gave him a once over before smiling. “Perfect.”

“Glad I passed the exam of Tony Stark’s outfit coordination.”

“Only the best of the best.”

“Come on, we won’t ever get to the place by standing around here.” Stephen offered his arm and, with a surprised laugh, Tony took it. They made their way outside and Tony was momentarily confused at the sight of a car.

“No portals?”

“I figured we could act like normal people for once.”

“Great plan.” They boarded the car and, without instructions, the driver took off once they were seated.

“So, can I know where we’re going?” Tony questioned as he adjusted in his seat so he could face Stephen, properly adjusting his seat belt to not strangle him at this new position, and Stephen smirked.

“It’s a surprise.”

“I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m not big on surprises.” Tony used to be, the flair of dramatics and theatrics always peaked his interest, but after Afghanistan he was more likely to flinch and attempt to swing at the nearest person than to react normally.

“It’s nothing big.” Stephen promised, and as if on cue the car stopped and they were both opening their doors.

When Tony stepped out, he didn’t expect to see Central Park.

“I...” Tony watched as Stephen opened a portal and picked out a picnic basket from it. “What happened to being normal?”

“Eh,” Stephen shrugged, “we couldn’t be normal if we wanted to. I also couldn’t hide this anywhere without you seeing it or it being thrown around.”

“Fair,” Tony conceded, then looked at Stephen’s outfit and his own. “The dressing up nicely part?”

“Who said we couldn’t like dashingly handsome on a causal picnic date?” That elicited a laugh out of Tony, and Stephen looked proud of himself.

“Jokes on you, I’m always dashingly handsome.”

“More like dashingly adorable.” They continued to bicker until they found a place to settle, spreading out the blanket and the food. After they ate, they laid down next to each other and stared up at the stars past the trees.

“You know,” Tony began, and Stephen shifted to see Tony’s face. “when I was younger, I used to be fascinated by the stars. Sometimes I would dream of boarding a rocket and going to space, of seeing the stars without the pollution. The pictures never really did so much justice and, now that I’ve seen them, neither does looking at them on Earth.” A faint smile crept on Tony’s face that had sadness fraying at the edges, something Stephen was sure wasn’t there when Tony was younger.

Something that wasn’t there before Tony took to the skies like Icarus. The nuke on his back like wings and his armor and the civilians down below his reckless ambition, his unwavering determination.

“I’m sorry.” Stephen sighed, and Tony moved to face Stephen with a furrow in his brow.

“For?”

“Your last soulmate mark.”

“You know what happened?” Tony sat up and Stephen followed, and Tony sat cross legged facing towards him.

“The Ancient One explained it to me.” Stephen began, Tony listening attentively, “She, or maybe even fate, hid our true markings until it was time for them to be revealed, she said that any sooner would’ve disrupted this universe’s flow. Any sooner and I may have not became Sorcerer Supreme, and you may have not became Iron Man. There was endless amounts of consequences, but they all boiled down to one thing.”

“Our soulmate markings.” Tony said with dawning realization, and Stephen nodded.

“It was the only way for us to end up where we are now.”

Tony thought back to his childhood where he had endlessly hoped for Steve to come back, where in adolescents he realized the implications of Steve coming back while he was a minor-knowing that fate would never allow that to happen and doubt being planted in him as he wondered if he had gotten the wrong Steve-and finally when the Avengers had first formed. When the hope that had been buried under his pessimism and denial starting to come about again, like a plant growing among concrete, only to have it squashed.

“Well, if that’s what it took to get here,” Tony looked at Stephen and smiled. “I don’t think I mind.”

He thought about Rhodes and Peter, about DUM-E and Butterfingers. His first true friend that he met in college, his first protege that also meant so much more to him. His two children, robots or not, and about everyone else in his world-Hope, FRIDAY, the late Jarvis.

Stephen.

If their markings hadn’t been changed, there was a good possibility that he would’ve never met these people, or made his creations, and he knew the moment the thought came to him that knowing his true soulmate early on would’ve never been worth it.

Not in a thousand lifetimes.

“Peter?” At T’Challa’s nod Natasha hummed. “I thought he was merely a protégée to Tony, but apparently it might be more.”

“Yeah, he mentioned Peter a couple times. He sounded like he really cared about him, deeper than a mentor-student relationship.” Steve piped up, and from the corner Wanda smirked quietly.

“Vision,” She turned innocently towards the android, who hums to show he’s listening. “I’m going to sleep on my own tonight.”

“Is everything alright?” Wanda smiled genuinely ever so slightly, glad she had someone who cared for her like Vision did.

“Yes, don’t worry about it Vis.” She didn’t say anything else, not wanting to tip off Vision as to what her plan was, and paid close attention to Steve describing the relationship with Tony and Peter.

And how to ruin it.

Tony watched as Peter stumbled into the lab, school bag aligned over one shoulder, and the amusement turned into concern as he watched Peter stagger before almost collapsing right then and there.

“Whoa, alright kid lets get you seated.” Tony grabbed Peter, luckily he was standing near the door where Peter entered from, and sat him down quickly in one of the lab chairs.

“Thanks Mr. Stark.” Peter sighed in relief as he felt the softness of the chair, practically melting into the seat.

“What the hell happened kid? You look like hell, and I know you haven’t gotten into a fight recently.” Tony sits across from him with concern in his eyes, and Peter feels guilty for even worrying him.

“It’s nothing really-“ Peter begins protesting, but stops when Tony holds his hand up.

“I know you’re lying, don’t bullshit me, I can see bags under your eyes. You’re exhausted, I just want to find out why. Is it school?” The fight seems to leave Peter’s body as he deflated, and the high schooler shakes his head hesitantly.

“I’ve, um, been having nightmares.” Peter admits sheepishly, as if it’s something to be ashamed of, and Tony smiles with weary affection. On one hand, he knew this was coming (nobody gets into this business without scars, mental and physical) but on the other he just wished it wouldn’t affect Peter so early.

“That comes with the job, unfortunately.” Peter stared at him, wide-eyed and childlike as he soaked up everything Tony said, like he would be asked to repeat it word for word later. “The people we fight, people we protect, people we might have to see die, they can come up in our dreams and turn them into nightmares. We all get them, it’s nothing abnormal kid.”

“Even you?” Peter asked, innocent like a kid meeting their idol with awe in his voice that comes up from time to time, and Tony smiles as he stands and ruffles his hair.

“Even me. It doesn’t make you weak to have them, if anything it makes you stronger. You’re able to stand up and continue fighting even with nightmares plaguing you.” Peter nods determinedly, and Tony knows he’s a strong kid-always knew really-and he knows these nightmares won’t hold Peter back from being a superhero.

He couldn’t be more proud to think of someone as his kid.

Peter closed his eyes and exhaled slowly before opening them.

This happens to all of us, nothing to fear or be worried about.

In front of him stood Wanda Maximoff.

We all see someone we’ve fought before.

At first, the first nightmare he had gotten with her, he had been confused and, frankly, terrified. Why was she here, in his dreams?

Then, he was offended when she started speaking.

Join her and the others? Tony was the bad guy here? Peter didn’t know what his subconscious was trying to tell him, but he was getting sick of it quickly.

When he refused to do such a thing, Dream Wanda threw a temper tantrum and sent him into a nightmare of all the people he cared for dead.

Yeah, not the nicest person around.

Every night, it was the same song and dance. Every time she “punished” him, it only solidified his decision.

This time, he was going to try a different tactic.

Apparently, so was she.

“Peter, you and I are the same.” Wanda began, and with a wave of her hand the scenery changed from pitch black to a whole new terrain. Nothing in America, Peter deduced as he looked around, and possibly a third-world country. “I was so young when my parents were taken for me, my brother was the only living relative I had after that.”

Flashes of her life appeared before Peter, all of them happy moments, and then it ended abruptly with one word flashing in his mind.

Stark Industries.

A bomb, and everything went into hell.

“Him and his bombs ruined my life.” Wanda watched the scene of her brother hugging her with nostalgia in her eyes, and a sharp hint of sadness with it. “Don’t you see Peter? Tony took everything away from me, and my case is like so many other people affected by him. Didn’t you ever wonder why he held the title of the Merchant of Death?” Flashes of other places warped around them, all littered with destruction, and Peter watched on solemnly. When it stopped, they were in the black area where they had began.

“I’m sorry for your parents Wanda,” Peter said softly, always the empathetic, and Wanda gave him a watery smile as she nodded her thanks. “but this doesn’t convince me.” Now, his voice was strong and stubborn and Wanda could see this wasn’t going her way.

“But we have so much in common! We lost our parents at a young age, and now we’re both just kids trying to make it through this superhero life! Why can’t you understand that? I want to be your friend!” Wanda asked, lips trembling and eyes watery, and Peter shook his head at the falseness of it.

“First, you’re not a kid no matter how much Captain America thinks you are. Second, you blaming Tony for your parents death isn’t practical or reasonable. He was a weapons merchant, which means he sold weapons not set them off. He also had someone doing under the table dealing that he wasn’t aware of until said person tried to kill him so I can’t see how this is his fault as it's entirely possible that he didn't sell it to the people who set off the missile.. It was his job, one that he inherited by the way, and however rich his family name was he still needed a job.” Peter argued, and Wanda grew red in the face before she snarled at him.

“Fine, if that’s how you want to be then be that way.” Wanda’s hands glowed red, but this was Peter’s mind and he’d be damned if he let this witch that his subconscious planted in his mind get the best of him again.

“I won’t let you win.” Peter was stubborn, enormously so, and when the red came for him, he stood his ground with a set jaw.

“You don’t have a choice.”

Red swarmed his and the visions of Tony, Stephen, MJ, Ned, everyone dying came to him. He fought it, trying to dispel the vision from his mind, warp the scene, and failed. On his third attempt he managed to do so, but it took all his concentration and left him breathless.

“Huh, you’re more resilient than I expected.” Wanda smirked, “Let’s see how long you can hold up for.”

Peter went down again, and each time he came back wearier and wearier. Seeing his loved ones die over and over would break down anyone’s psyche, and Peter was no exception.

Which is why, when Peter woke up, it wasn’t much a surprise when red glinted in his eyes.

Tony wasn’t concerned when Peter didn’t show up to the weekend morning lab meet, he knew the kid was exhausted lately and maybe wanted to sleep in. Hell, he wasn’t concerned when he didn’t show up for the afternoon one.

He was concerned, when Peter didn’t show up after a week and didn’t respond to the training alarm.

Since Peter was too young to be a legal Avenger, according to the Accords and Tony’s own moral standards, he could only come on extreme emergency or to train for when he became an actual Avenger.

Peter never missed training. One time he came in running a high fever but still prepared to train, adamant about it until Tony personally escorted him home. The kid was too eager, too willing, to miss something like this.

“Hey Stephen, have you seen the kid?”

“No, not since last week. Which is unusual since he usually visits the Sanctum Sanctorum at least once a week, but I figured he was busy.”

“Yeah, me too.” Tony muttered, frowning, and Stephen placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“Maybe he’s sick?” Stephen questioned, and Tony shook his head.

“He would’ve let us know if he was on bed rest and if it wasn’t something that took him out immediately, he would’ve forced himself to come.”

“Go check up on him then, you’re going to get yourself sick with worrying.” Stephen gave him a light nudge to the door and Tony grimaced.

“Are you sure you’re fine with training? Team dynamics are a little messy right now and I’m usually the mediator.”

“Please, don’t flatter yourself.” Stephen scoffed arrogantly, bringing back some of his pre-magic personality to soothe some of Tony’s worry. “I teach students magic, I’m sure managing team dynamics will be a piece of cake for me.” They both knew that was a lie, everyone’s different personalities intertwining will hardly be easy to manage, but Tony nodded gratefully and slipped out the door.

“Hey Ms. May, is it okay if I stop by real quick? I need to talk to Peter about his internship.” Tony called Peter’s aunt as he slipped into the car where Happy was waiting, holding up a finger to tell him to wait.

“Peter is actually in Central Park, he said he needed a walk.” May responded, sounding a little worried. “Is everything okay? He seems...off, he’s not acting like his usual self. He’s more quiet and subdued, and he doesn’t talk a lot either. When he does, he’s snappish and quite frankly rude.”

“That’s what I’m trying to find out, hopefully I can set everything straight. I’ll let you know it goes.” Tony hangs up after they say their goodbyes, and he looks to Happy.

“Where to sir?”

“Central Park.”

When he got there, he put on his sunglasses and tapped them twice.

“Yes Boss?” FRIDAY responses immediately, and Tony smiled.

“Hey baby girl, we’re going to find our Spiderling okay? I need your help though, Central Park isn’t small.”

“Of course Boss, I’m on it.” His sunglasses went digital, tracking a set of footprints and dimmed out everyone else. “I rewinded the cameras around Central and these are Peter Parker’s footprints. Also verified through weight of footprints, shoe size, and height.”

“Thanks Fri.” Tony set off on the same path Peter was on and wondered what was wrong with him.

And if he could fix it.

He finally did find Peter after his footprints diverted from the path and near a tree. When he circled the tree, he spotted Peter leaning his back on it with a hoodie on and hood up.

“Kid?” He questioned softly, not wanting to wake him if he was asleep, and Peter looked up questioningly before narrowing his eyes once they landed on Tony.

“Mr. Stark.” Peter answered shortly, and Tony frowned at his tone of voice before tapping his side of sunglasses two times to turn off the seeking mode FRIDAY enabled.

“Hey kid, what’s up? You haven’t swung by for a week, which isn’t a problem, and your aunt is worried about you.” The tree’s shadow encompassed both of them and he could feel the wind biting him, which made him internally grateful that Peter had thought to grab a sweater because who knew how long he was out here in the cold. It wasn’t enough to snow, if anything it was just cool rather than cold, and with both of them being New York born and raised it hardly affected them but Tony could be more of a worrier than Rhodes sometimes-which is saying something.

“I’m fine.” Peter slouched more into the tree and Tony crouched down across from him, balancing on the balls of his feet. “I just didn’t want to go.”

“That’s fine, I just wanted to make sure you were alright. You didn’t show up to training either and you were telling me about your nightmares so-“ Peter tensed up rapidly when he mentioned the nightmares and Tony tilted his head. “Does this have to do with that? Your nightmares?”

“It has to do with me wanting you to leave me alone!” Peter snapped, finally looking up and making eye contact with Tony and he felt the breath leave his body.

Peter’s eyes were maroon.

“Hey Peter,” Tony began cautiously, moving his hand slowly to his glasses. “what were your nightmares about again?”

Peter stilled, and then bolted.

“FRIDAY contact Strange and tell him to get to the Tower now!” Tony barked as he stood up and narrowed his eyes to where Peter was running. The kid was naturally fast, which was only enhanced when he was bitten, but Tony was sure he could do this.

‘Follow my hand motions, and think of where you want to go.’

He took a deep breath and focused in front of Peter’s path, and then went through the motions he could mentally see Stephen do.

‘I won’t let allow this to happen. Not to Peter.’ A portal opened in front of Peter, who skidded into it as he was running too fast to stop himself.

“FRIDAY, lock the tower. Peter doesn’t get out, nobody gets in the room I put him in unless approved by me.”

“On it Boss.” Tony moves to go to Happy and tell him to floor it, when suddenly he bumps into Stephen.

“Ow, what the hell Stephen? You were suppose to meet me at the tower.”

“I was worried.” Stephen said simply, and Tony ran a hand through his hair.

“It’s not me you should be worried about.”

“Peter?” At Tony’s nod, Stephen frowned. “What’s wrong with him?”

“Not sure, but I’m thinking Maximoff did something to him. I managed to get him secure in the tower by opening a portal, but I’m going to need your help to find out what really happened.” Stephen nodded and any other time he would be praising Tony for opening a portal seamlessly, as this had been a struggle for Tony even as they continued further in their lessons, but with Peter in potential danger he knew this wasn’t the time.

“Let’s go figure out what’s wrong with him then.” Stephen opens a portal to the tower and, despite it not being the time, he can’t help the spark of pride when Tony steps through it easily, determination to make sure his kid was okay overpowering any fear he may have when it came to portals.

When Stephen stepped through the portal, Tony was already making his way to where he put Peter. Tony tapped in a code on a screen next to a door, too quick for Stephen to see what exactly he put in, and he followed after Tony as they both stepped into the room.

The room felt uneasy to Stephen, odd in ways he couldn’t understand, and he saw Peter curled up in the corner of the room.

“Why does it feel like we just stepped into a horror movie?” Stephen muttered, and Tony shot him a look mixed with annoyance and another emotion he couldn’t quite place that somehow softened his glare. Tony opened his mouth to address Peter, but Stephen quickly stopped him. “No, if he’s truly affected by Maximoff’s magic then it’s better to catch him by surprise.”

Stephen stealthily crept up to Peter, who had his head down, and made sure to quiet his footsteps

When Peter looked up, it was too late.

Stephen quickly grabbed the side of Peter’s head and let his magic flow into Peter, who slumped in his grip.

“You’re right, I can sense magic tainting him, but I can’t disentangle it from him without possibly causing brain damage. That’s our last ditch effort, so thankfully there’s something we can do first.”

“Whatever it is, I’ll do it.” Tony crouched besides him and blinked when Stephen held out one of his hands. “What?”

“We’re going into his mind, whatever Maximoff did to him trapped Peter in his mind. If we want to do this the safest way possible we need to extract him from there.” Tony stared at him a moment longer, then nodded and grabbed his hand lightly.

Stephen didn’t have time to wonder how Tony knew the exact grip to hold his hands without them hurting due to the nerve damage before they were sucked into Peter’s mind.

Once the initial dizziness of entering someone’s mind passed, Stephen got up slowly and looked around. It was completely dark, for now, but in the short distance he could see another body curled into a ball.

A groan off to the left of him reminded Stephen that he didn’t enter Peter’s mind alone, and he turned to see Tony struggling to rise.

Which also reminded him that this was Tony’s first time in someone’s mind and the first time was the worst.

“Ugh, Peter’s going to kill me if I throw up in his mind.” Stephen offered his elbow silently to Tony, who took it gratefully and rose completely.

“Are you okay? Do you need a minute to gather your bearings?” Stephen asked, but Tony shook his head resolutely.

“No, I’m fine, I’ve had worse in the Iron-man armor.” Tony grunted as he looked around and his eyes landed on the prone figure in the distance. “Is that Peter?”

“I’m not sure, stick close.” Stephen commanded, and Tony nodded willingly. They both knew, though, that he wouldn’t listen if he thought it was necessary to divert from his words. As they approached, the figure became clearer and it became apparent that it was Peter. Still, Tony didn’t approach until they were both next to him and only then did he get on his knees in front of Peter to reach out to him.

“Peter?” Tony lightly shook the boy, who didn’t respond. “Hey, Peter. Peter!” A harder shake, and the young superhero jolted awake.

“What-? Oh.” Peter looked surprised at first, then blank. “You’re just an illusion, or a hallucination.” A dry chuckle escaped Peter’s lips, no humor in his laugh and so unordinary that it concerned Tony. “God knows how long I’ve been here, hallucinations are possible.”

“What? No-kid. Kid we’re not a hallucination, I’m not a hallucination.” When Peter’s eyes started to drop, Tony shook him lightly again. “Hey, no falling asleep. Focus on me.”

“Leave me alone, she’s gonna be here soon anyway. Whatever my subconscious is trying to pull, I’m not falling for another fake Tony again.” Peter mumbles, eyes still blank, and Tony’s eyes narrowed in anger. Not at Peter, never at his kid, but at that witch, who throughly fucked with Peter’s mind enough for him to lose all hope.

“Oh? Another Tony? How predictable.”

Speak of the devil.

Tony stood up and spun around furiously, and Stephen could see the fury on his face and knew that when they got out of here Maximoff was screwed when Tony went after her in the real world.

Sparks of gold flashed from Tony’s hand and Stephen had to wonder, if Tony had knew magic extensively enough, whether the engineer would’ve chosen offensive or defensive magic if given the chance.

Well, at least he knew from the sparks that Tony did have it in him to practice advanced magic.

“Maximoff, release Peter. Now.”

“Oh, this one is like the first ones you created. You’re getting your energy back Peter? No matter, I’ll just destroy them.” A wicked smile crept up Wanda’s face and Stephen was thoroughly disgusted by her actions as a magic user. “I’ll even pit them against themselves! That’ll be fun to see, right Peter?” The person in question stared back apathetically, but Stephen could make out a sheen of tears reflecting in his eyes. When he turned back to Maximoff, there was a copy of him and Tony staring back at them.

When they began walking towards them, the fake Tony powering up his gauntlets and the fake Stephen doing nothing yet, Stephen felt his heart in his throat. Sure, that was the fake Tony but that was still his soulmate he was looking at. Anxiety began to crawl into his chest, tightening it, and it immobilized Stephen as he watched the clones of them walk even closer.

Two shots rang out and the fakes dropped dead in front of them as silence enveloped them, the only thing to be heard is repulsors whirring.

“I don’t have time for your mind games Maximoff.” Tony said coldly, face hardened and blank, and looked over to Strange. When he did, his eyes soften ever so slightly. “Keep an eye on her, I’m going to try and talk to the kid.”

Stephen nodded, his heart beat finally calming down, and he realized he let Maximoff’s magic get the best of him. Tony didn’t seem fazed by it, but maybe it was because he’s already encountered her magic before-making him the most resistant to it. Looking back to the fakes, Stephen wondered why his fake didn’t use his powers or at least prepared them like Tony’s did.

Looking at the person who made them, he saw Maximoff staring at him with curious disdain and realization hit him. She had no clue who he was because they’d never met before.

The atrocious things he’s heard about Maximoff from Tony and Bruce made sure he knew everything about her, but she knew next to nothing about him.

“Ms. Maximoff, my name is Sorcerer Supreme and I’m not sorry to say that you’ve broken a tremendous amount of laws-both in magic and in society.”

“Sorcerer Supreme? Sorry to say, but I don’t really care.” Maximoff sneered, now agitated and realizing that they’re not a figment of Peter’s conscious, and threw her magic at them.

Stephen reacted quickly, throwing up a golden barrier around all of them and stepped through it so he was out in the open with Maximoff.

“Resisting will only make it worst for you Maximoff.”

“We’ll see.” And with that, Stephen engaged in a magic battle.

“Kid, kid look at me.” Tony could hear the battle behind him and had full faith that Stephen could keep them safe.

That left his only concern with Peter.

“Hey there buddy,” Tony smiled for Peter’s sake, who was still staring at him blankly. “I need you to listen to me, okay?” Tony swallowed thickly as he thought of what would happen if he couldn’t bring Peter back. He pushed that thought away roughly, right now he needed to be optimistic.

For both Peter and himself.

“I know you feel numb, I get it okay? I do, Maximoff’s magic isn’t something to be fucked with. And I know you’ve lost hope that I’m real but, look.” Tony tugs down his shirt to reveal his collarbone, where Stephen’s name is written on the side of his collarbone. “This can’t be replicated, whoever the fuck made soulmates made it so this can’t be duplicated. Have any of your Tony’s or Stephen’s had their soulmate mark?” He waits patiently for Peter, and he shook his head slowly. “Exactly, the only person who can hold a soulmate mark is the person themselves.”

“I-“ Peter’s voice broke, hoarse from not using it for awhile, and was full of emotions. “I can’t do this again. I can’t-it’s going to break me if you’re not real.”

“I need you to believe in me, one more time. You’re strong Peter, so strong, and I need you to be strong one more time.” Tony pleaded, not knowing what’d he do if this didn’t work, and Peter closed his eyes before nodding.

“Okay.” Peter whispered as he opened his eyes back up and, to Tony’s relief, his eyes held a determined glint to them. “Okay, I-I’ll try.”

“That’s the Peter I know.” Tony said encouragingly, helping Peter stand up. “Remember, this is your mind. You control what happens.”

“I control what happens.” Peter mumbles, almost to himself, and stands up shakily with the help of Tony.

Tony watches as Stephen glances at them and, once seeing their okay, falls back in line with them.

“Peter, this is your last chance.” Maximoff warns, “Join me, leave the killer behind.”

Peter shook his head resolutely, his eyes burning with the passion he let Maximoff take from him. “You’re the only killer here.”

“Fine, be that way.” Maximoff snarled, preparing her powers, and Tony squeezed Peter’s hand comfortingly.

“Remember, you decide how this plays out. You’re the master of your own mind. Stephen and I will protect you the best we can but it’s up to you.” Tony released his hand and tapped his watch to turn it in a gauntlet, and Stephen prepared himself to be ready to throw out magic quickly. They both shifted to stand in front of Peter, and everyone was still for a moment.

Then, everything exploded.

Wanda smiles wickedly and sent wave after wave of her magic, to which Stephen responded by throwing up shields around them and throwing back his own magic.

Tony tried to reach into himself and bring out the bleeding edge armor but to no avail, so he was stuck with his watch gauntlet-tasked with killing any bodies that might form and try to go after them physically.

Peter was stuck in a mind battle, trying to fight off what Maximoff did to him. They could all see his work, moments where Maximoff’s magic would glitch or disappear and sometimes Maximoff herself would fade in and out. This spurred her to try to get to them faster, and for them to work against her faster.

Unbeknownst to any of them, a body was appearing right behind Stephen.

When Peter was catching his breath, he saw the body and screamed a warning.

Tony and Stephen turned at the same time, and saw a fake version of Sam Wilson.

“Duck!” Tony commanded, Stephen doing so without any hesitation, and he blasted Wilson to the ground.

And then he was tackled.

He could faintly hear his name being called out from Peter and Stephen, but he was too busy trying to get an upper hand in the situation. Tony’s had his fair share of fights as a kid, others thinking they could bully him into giving them money or their idea of fame, and he wasn’t unaccustomed to fighting people bigger and stronger than him. He knew that it was possible to get on top of the other person by following through with their momentum they gained from rolling, and he knew ways to get out even if he ended up on the bottom.

What he wasn’t prepared for, was the iron grip the person had on his wrist and the feeling of being straddled so he couldn’t move or kick.

The grip on him was almost superhuman.

And looking at the person above him, fake or not, he knew the grip was superhuman.

Cold, so cold-no no don’t! Not the arc reactor!

Staring back at him was Steve Rogers.

He could feel Maximoff’s magic start to crawl towards his chest and knew he had time to get out of this before her magic completely immobilized him.

So why couldn’t he move?

He was stuck, staring up at Rogers, and as valiantly he tried to make his limbs move it didn’t work. His mind screamed at him (do something!) but it seemed impossible, all he could do is keep his chest rising and falling-and even that was getting harder to do.

Maximoff’s magic was getting closer, raising his already high anxiety levels and the fear within him, and Rogers moved to raise his shield over Tony’s head-

“Stop!”

And everything stilled.

The fake Steve, with his shield still raised, Maximoff’s waves of magic stopped, and Tony looked over to see Peter breathing heavily.

“I’m not going to let you hurt them.” Peter said with such conviction that it pushed Wanda and her magic back enough for Tony to be able to push back his own anxiety and roll out from under Rogers once he glitched.

“It’s as I suspected,” Stephen muttered once Tony shakily reached his side, glancing at him to make sure he’s okay before focusing on Maximoff again-who was recovering from the blast. “one of us will have to kill her for us to escape.”

“What, in real life?” Tony asked back, and Stephen shook his head.

“No, just here. I can hold her down if you can take the shot.” Tony nodded, determined to do whatever it takes to get his kid back, and they both turned to Maximoff, who was just standing up. In Stephen’s hands appeared whip like golden strands, to which he sent them flying to Maximoff-the ends of it still in his hands-and when they constrained Maximoff she snarled but ultimately didn’t seem too concerned. Most likely because she didn’t know the full extent of Stephen’s power, or who he was to the magic world.

She was concerned, though, when Tony raises a repulsor-equipped hand.

“Wait! Please, I don’t want to die! I’ll leave willingly, just please don’t kill me! I’m not ready to die!” She pleaded, and Peter seemed more empathetic to her despite the hell she put him through.

“I-If she’s offering to leave willingly without causing trouble, then we don’t have to kill her. Right?” Tony and Stephen shared a look and it was apparent to both of them if they let Wanda go, she’d just hit back harder.

Tony took aim and, over the clambering of both Maximoff and Peter, fired.

As Maximoff’s dead body hit the ground, Tony turned to Peter-who was staring at her body wide-eyed as it started to fade.

“Peter, she’s not dead in real life. That was the only way to shock her out of your mind, nothing else would work.” Stephen said calmly as he approached Peter, who swallowed thickly before nodding.

“So she’s not dead?”

“No, definitely not.” Stephen assured, and Peter looked to Tony before back at him.

“What happens now?”

“We leave your mind, and you wake up.” Peter paled at that and grips Tony’s arm.

“What happens if I don’t come wake up? What happens if she comes back?”

“She won’t,” Stephen soothes, “she doesn’t have energy to. She’s been keeping you for around a week, and your fear was the only thing she had to replenish her energy.”

“We’ll see you when you wake up.” Tony vowed and felt his form flickering as Peter bit his lip and nodded.

Then, he was unconscious.

“Stephen?” The person in question groaned and opened his eyes blearily, his vision focusing on Hope.

“Hope?” He asked, lifting himself off the floor gently and watched as a blanket fell off his form. Looking besides him, he saw Tony sleeping on the floor with a blanket on him too and their hands intertwined. He carefully untangled his hand from Tony’s and watched as the genius shifted slightly before returning to a still state.

“Yeah, what the hell happened? I walk in here and the three of you are on the ground holding hands and asleep. It looked like all of you were asleep, but I couldn’t shake you awake.” Hope asked and Stephen remembered what happened.

“We need to gather the team, we can’t let Maximoff run off on her own anymore.” Stephen stood up completely and added his blanket to Peter’s and Tony’s prone figures, both of them being close enough to cover them completely, before facing Hope. “Peter was attacked and Tony and I were forced to perform an extraction technique on him. My protection charm protected him for around a month before it broke under constant pressure of Maximoff’s magic, it was only designed for short term attacks. Enough for Peter get away or call for help, not for what she was doing.”

“What about the agreement Tony made with T’Challa?”

“It’s been a week and six days.” Stephen has been counting down the days, they all had been really. They all have been training harder and more often these two weeks, all aware of what could go down if the fugitives didn’t come peacefully. “If he was planning on giving them up, he would’ve already.”

“Alright, but we have to wait for Tony to wake up.” Hope motioned towards the sleeping genius, and Stephen crouched next to him.

“Gather the team, I’ll stay with them.” Hope nodded and left briskly, leaving Stephen with Peter and Tony.

Around 20 minutes later, Tony shifted on the ground and opened his eyes as he squinted.

“Hey Tony.” Stephen said softly, and Tony muttered a weak greeting as he gathered his bearings and stood up.

“What’s going on?”

“We’re gathering the rest of the team to prepare a capture of the fugitives, Maximoff most importantly.”

“What about Peter?” Tony knew that he was a vital part in the plan they had all made up, but he had also promised Peter he’d be there when he woke.

“Peter will be asleep for a day most likely, he’s been under for a week so his body is trying to compensate for that. He’ll still be asleep by the time we get back, don’t worry about it.”

“You sure?”

“Positive.” Tony bit his lip, glancing at Peter, before nodding and standing up, determination glinting in his eyes.

“Then let’s go get the fugitives.”

It was a grim process of getting ready for battle, everyone silently going over their own place in the upcoming battle as they suited up.

It felt like they were going to a suicide mission, and not into a battle they had planned on for months.

“Have you been to Wakanda before? Enough to open a portal?” Stephen asked, but he didn’t need to. They both already knew that Tony was able to open the portal, and if not they made backup plans. While he hasn't been there before, Tony has seen enough through talking with Shuri to be able to open a portal-along with having the exact location from the tracker.

“Yes.” Tony replied quietly, not suited up quite yet as he helped others get suited up and go through last minute battle plans, and he closed his eyes as he rested his head against Stephen’s chest.

Stephen drew him closer, arms wrapping around Tony’s waist and hugging him tightly, and they stood in silence. Tony looked up at Stephen and the latter took the moment to just soak up how Tony looked in that moment. Brown eyes soft with a small smile gracing his face, despite everything thrown at him-all of the hell that he experienced, and Stephen was suddenly filled with an overwhelming emotion that made him want to cry.

He loved this man and just when he was realizing it, they’re being set into a battle of their lifetime.

He opened his mouth to say something, anything, but-

He was being kissed, hard and desperate, and before his mind could catch up with what was happening, Tony was pulling away.

“Survive long enough for you to kiss me back, okay?” They hadn’t kissed that date night, the only one they had, and instead learned more about each other, casual and heavy secrets and stories while gazing up at the stars and at each other, and Stephen truly didn’t mind the way that night turned out. He found himself appreciating the way that their relationship slowly built, instead of just throwing themselves into a relationship because the names on their bodies deemed it so.

Being kissed by Tony, though, was an experience that Stephen didn’t think he’d get tired of.

“Right back at you.” Stephen finally managed to say, and Tony smiled in relief. It was an unspoken moment between the two, but Stephen knew when they made it home they would both be ready for a talk about their relationship.

And that was something to fight for.

“Iron Man, Sorcerer Supreme, are you ready?” Hope’s voice crackled through their ear pieces, the rest of the team ready on the roof, and Tony reached up to tap his ear piece.

“Yes, we’ll be right up.” Tony spared one more glance at him, as if to devote this moment to memory, before turning around and making his way to the roof. Stephen made a portal to the roof and stood besides the rest of the team, and a moment later Tony appeared with his Iron Man suit on.

“Everyone ready?” Voices clambered over each other, each giving their affirmative, and Tony nodded grimly before starting the process of opening a portal.

And with that, the battle began.

Tony always prided himself on his intellect and everything that came with it. His keen observations skills, ones that only heightened after Afghanistan, his ability to pick apart people and see what makes them tick, his uncanny ability of masking things that seemed to fall into the realm of the impossible.

None of these were needed to sense something was wrong the moment they stepped through the portal.

The Dora Milaje were nowhere to be seen, automatically putting Tony on edge, and his team crept through the building as they kept an eye out for anyone.

But nobody was to be seen.

Tony approached the last door in the building and was about to open it when suddenly a Dora Milaje flew through the doors and slammed into the wall across from them.

Sticking his head into the room cautiously, he found chaos and the rest of the Dora Milaje.

Along with T’Challa and the fugitives.

“What the hell?” Tony muttered, before turning around and carefully pulling the Dora Milaje that just flew out the room over to where the rest of his team was and away from the room.

“What’s happening in there?” Tony asked, seeing the woman stirring, and she responded without really realizing who she was talking to due to the impact of the wall.

“Maximoff has taken the king captive and is using her abilities to control him.” She then blinks, and narrows her eyes at him. “How did you get in Wakanda?” Her hand grasps for the spear not there, and Tony stands up.

“Well right now it looks like you need help, and we can do that.” He turns towards his team and looks at Stephen. “We’re switching roles, you get T’Challa and I’ll distract Maximoff.” The original plan had been that Tony would try to talk the king out of helping the fugitives and, if it came down to it, fight him while Stephen would be putting a lock on Maximoff’s magic until something more permanent could be done. But now, with T’Challa under the influence of Maximoff’s magic, they’d have to change it up.

“Tony-“ Before Stephen could protest, he turns back to the woman and finds already standing up.

“We can help your king, but we can’t fight all the Dora Milaje. We need to know that we won’t be attacked by them.” The woman stared at him, and he held her gaze. After a moment, she nodded.

“It will be done. Come, the battle awaits.” She charged back through the doorway, and his team followed.

When they entered the doorway, they all split up to go after their respective opponent. The Dora Milaje shared a glance and continued to fight the fugitives, but they didn’t attack the Avengers so Tony counts it as a win.

“I knew you would come.” Maximoff snarled, and Tony let his faceplate fall down.

“Yeah, well I kinda had to once you attacked one of the Avengers.”

“The kid is hardly an Avenger.”

“And yet he’s more of one than you.” Tony took the first shot, aiming a repulsor and firing a blast. Wanda dodged smoothly and threw her magic at him. He advanced steadily, the Bleeding Edge armor absorbing the magic harmlessly and any force behind it was balanced by him shifting his weight to counteract the impact.

“I got him!” Stephen called out, and Wanda screamed. At this point, Tony had been close enough to touch her, but the scream came with waves of magic that sent him staggering back. He grounded himself with additional help from the Bleeding Edge armor, three additional support beams coming from his shoes and grounding him to the floor.

The waves of magic formed to ropes that sickly reminded Tony of Stephen’s own ropes, and they formed nooses around his teammates and the Dora Milaje necks. The only thing that prevented Tony from joining their fate was his armor.

“Wanda!” Steve called, “Don’t kill them, only knock them unconscious. We’ll take care of Stark.” Wanda nodded and lifted everyone higher with her magic, and Tony watched on as they started to choke-kicking their feet and scrabbling to claw at the red rope around their necks. Stephen raises his hand to make his own magic to cut his rope, but Wanda quickly shoots out another rope to grab his hands.

“Know how it feels Sorcerer,” Wanda smiles wickedly, almost cackling at this point. “to have your hands bound.”

“No.” Tony whispered, the supports on his boots retracting as the waves of red stopped. His hands sparked gold, going unnoticed by everyone from the armor, and Wanda smirked over at him.

“What? Shocked your plan failed? I could’ve told you, it wouldn’t work out.” Steve grabbed him from behind, but Tony couldn’t react to anything past the ringing of his ears.

Hope went unconscious first, and when she was released Scott was there to catch her and gently put her on the ground.

Rhodey choked on a gasp, as was everyone, and Tony’s chest constricted even more as the armor pulled away from him and started to go back to his arc reactor.

“Surrendering peacefully? The best choice.” Romanov commented, and the ringing in his ears was replaced by the choke sounds of his teammates and warriors of Wakanda. Tony could faintly hear the fugitives talking about what to do with him, but their words were drowned out.

He locked eyes with Stephen as Steve turned him around and forced him on his knees, and time stood still.

Stephen had grown limp, the fight draining out of him with no oxygen to keep it going, and his eyes were opening slower each time he blinked. When he caught Tony’s gaze, he managed a weak smile and mouthed a sentence to Tony.

And Tony screamed.

Another blast wave sent everyone flying away from him, and gold filled the air as Maximoff’s ropes disappeared from his teammates-from his family’s necks. Breathless, Tony turned to Stephen and found him staring right back at him in awe.

A moment later, he realized why.

His hands glowed gold and turning to look behind him, he saw a bubble colored gold around him and his family along with those of Wakanda.

It was shaky and unstable, the caster himself not knowing how he had summoned it, but it was clearly designed for protection.

“Stark knows magic?” Wanda glares at the person in question as she asks, and Steve shook his head.

“Not that we knew of.” Stephen stood up shakily, taking deep breaths, and Tony winced as he felt the shield flicker. Stephen and Maximoff saw it at the same time and reacted quickly. Stephen created two portals, one in front of Maximoff and one behind her. The magic that she threw to shatter Tony’s shield instead hit her in the back and she stumbled forward before falling.

Captain Marvel charged forward and tackled Steve to the ground and Tony shot off warning shots when Natasha and Clint took a step to help Steve.

“You don’t have armor or any super healing, stand down.” Tony warned and while Natasha reluctantly stood back, knowing how to pick and choose her battles, Clint ran forward only to be stopped by Rhodey and they both put cuffs on their fugitives. Wanda was just about to get up when Stephen appeared behind her and put another set of cuffs on her.

“Don’t try to escape your cuffs, they’re especially designed for each and every one of you.” Stephen explained, and Tony eyed Wilson and Natasha warily.

“You guys are smart,” Tony started, and each glared at him. “so are you going to go down peacefully or are we doing this the hard way?” They each eyed him, and Wilson was the first one to step up. They didn’t say anything as he cuffed him and handed him off to Rhodey, and then he turned to Romanov.

“If it makes you feel better, you did take down on of our own.” Tony motioned to Hope, who was still unconscious with Scott still with her, and she huffed as she offered her wrists.

When he was done with her, they all turned to Scott Lang.

“Oh, um, right.” He looked down at Hope and back up at them. “Will she be okay?”

“After she gets her breath back, sure.” Tony said scathingly and, if it was even possible, Scott looked guiltier.

“Yeah, I know.” Scott stood up slowly and offered his wrists sheepishly. “Tell her I’m sorry when she wakes up?”

“Sure,” Rhodey said carelessly, and snapped the cuffs on him. “we’ll be sure to let her know.”

“The villains never win.” Maximoff snarled, and Tony smiled wearily-tired but happy it was over.

“You’re right, they don’t.” Tony moved past her as he fished his phone out to call the US government. “And you wonder why you’re the one in the handcuffs.”

“The face of the Avengers, Tony Stark, confirms that King T’Challa of Wakanda was under mind control from fugitive and Sokovia native Wanda Maximoff. The punishments for the multiple crimes that the fugitives, known as the Ex-Avengers, have committed are currently being discussed by the countries that they have committed crimes against.” Tony turns off the TV and his team cheers around him.

“We did it.” Stephen comes up besides him and smiles down at him, joy lighting up his face.

“We did,” Tony smirks as he curls his finger around Stephen’s tie. “and I think you owe me a kiss.”

“I think you may be right.” Stephen laughs lowly and finally kisses him. They break apart when one of their team members start wolf whistling and Tony smiles as he wraps an arm around Stephen’s waist.

“Not in front of my salad.” Peter complains, but by the smile gracing his face they knew he was joking.

When the attention diverted from them, Tony turns to Stephen and pecks him on the lips.

“I love you too.” Stephen looked at him in shock, and Tony bumped shoulders with him playfully. “You didn’t think I’d forget that, did you?”

“Yes actually,” After the shock wore off, Stephen couldn’t stop himself from grinning broadly. “considering I was half conscious I could barely remember that I said it.”

“Well you mouthed it but the sentiment still stands.” With all the chaos after the battle, Tony dealing with the Accords Council and the press and Stephen stripping away Maximoff’s magic from her for good and helping the prison prepares a magic proof cell for her just in case, they hadn’t had a chance to talk about what happened before and during the battle until a week later.

Today, to be specific.

Tony Stark knew of sacrifice, he’s sacrificed things and people (even himself more often than not) in the name of the greater good. But as he looked at his teammates, teammates that had grown to be his family without him even noticing, he knew that there was some things that weren’t worth the sacrifice.

And for once, he was completely okay with that.

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Sacrifice

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