Work Text:
You were doing your best to focus on what was being said in the meeting right now, but it was absolutely impossible to do when Stephen Strange was in the same room as you. The man was absolutely amazing to be around, and he never failed to capture your full attention. Well, at least in some ways. He was the one speaking right now, but you were barely comprehending a single word of what the man was saying.
More and more often lately, he'd taken to going without his gloves, leaving his hands open to your view; and it was distracting as hell. Oh, it wasn't the scars that drew you to his hands, you didn't think they were unsightly or anything like that, though you knew most people couldn't look at his hands for that reason. To you, they were just a part of him, something that happened but that did nothing to detract from how incredibly handsome he was. And let's be honest, you had a thing for hands, especially his hands apparently.
Because your (e/c) eyes couldn't pull themselves away from those gorgeous hands with their long, delicate fingers that made you weak in the knees. Ever since you'd first seen his hands, you had been held captive by them and now was no different for you. Sitting there staring at him and following every single motion of those hands you adored so much.
God, if he could see into your mind to the things you were thinking he might just strangle you with those hands, “Miss Y/N, are you even listening to me?”
Jerking your gaze up to his face, your (e/c) eyes went wide as you registered the hurt look in his eyes before he seemed to slam a wall down around himself. You knew what he was thinking, that you were looking at his hands because they were terrible to look at and you just couldn't help yourself. But oh, how wrong he was about that, and you wanted to tell him that he was wrong, but not here.
“I..I'm sorry, I'm listening Doctor.” You murmured as you dropped your gaze down to the table rather than looking back up at him or his hands again.
He was quiet for a moment or two before he started speaking again, pulling attention away from you and back to himself again. Though you noticed when you looked up again that he'd rested his arms behind his back so that you could no longer see his hands. It made you feel awful to see him hiding them again, all because you couldn't keep your eyes off of them.
In your defense, it was entirely the fault of those beautiful hands that held you captive and made you think of a thousand different things you'd like them to do to you. And that really was the crux of the problem, you were enamored with the Sorcerer Supreme and had been ever since you had been sent here to the New York Sanctum. Your job was to improve relations between the Sanctum and S.H.I.E.L.D so that all of you could work together in the future.
The main thought there was that if there was another incident like Loki and his Chitauri army, the sorcerers would be a very valuable ally. You often found yourself out of place around here though, because of all the magic and abilities that surrounded you. They were absolutely amazing, and you were just an agent with a badge, gun, and some decent martial arts moves.
But you knew if you kept making Stephen feel so uncomfortable that it was likely he would send you right back to S.H.I.E.L.D. Shifting in your seat, your gaze drew back up to his face as he wrapped up his talk with the Masters, something he did once a month. Sometimes it was more often, but in general, the Masters met once a month to discuss how things were faring and to address any concerns within their order.
You were just there because, well you really didn't know why you were made to be present, but Stephen was the one who had made it mandatory for you to attend these meetings. Maybe it was something to do with the fact that he wanted you to be able to tell S.H.I.E.L.D that his methods were sound, who knew for sure though.
As the meeting ended, the Masters stood up and started to file out of the room, talking quietly between each other as they moved. They all tended to ignore you, except for Wong, who had been quite accommodating to you from the very beginning. He caught your gaze and inclined his head, a gesture that you returned as you stood up and started toward the door.
“Miss Y/N, please stay behind, I need to talk to you.” Stephen said as you neared the door, freezing you in your tracks as your eyes met his across the space between the two of you.
Swallowing a little, you nodded your head and clasped your hands in front of you, “As you wish, Doctor.”
The room cleared out a minute or two later and the heavy door swung shut with a thud that made you jerk just slightly where you were standing. You had a feeling you knew what this was about and it was not going to make for a pleasant conversation between the two of you if you didn't do something. He needed to know that you weren't staring because of negative reasons, but actually telling him that and him believing it was not going to be easy.
“Today is not the first day that you have found yourself distracted, Y/N. It is also quite rude to stare the way that you do.” He spoke in a low voice that you knew to mean that he was angry, and you couldn't bring yourself to look up at him to see that emotion in his eyes.
“You don't understand, Stephen.” You spoke up to try and start explaining yourself, but he crossed the room to stand directly in front of you, forcing your attention up to his face.
“Don't I? You're just like the rest of them, can't get enough of seeing these.” He hissed as he raised his hands right in front of your face, close enough now to touch but you knew this wasn't the right time for that.
Shaking your head, you met his gaze and stood your ground before him, “That's not how it is, Stephen. Please just let me explain!”
He made a disgusted sound before turning to leave the room, and you panicked as you reached out and grabbed one of his hands in both of yours, “I love your hands!”
As soon as the words left your lips, you froze where you stood and quickly let go of the hand you'd grabbed to keep him from leaving. He had stopped walking and was just standing there with his back to you, and you just knew that you had screwed this up so badly. You were already preparing yourself to have to face your superiors back at headquarters when he turned back to look at you.
“Explain yourself.” The two words were still in that low tone of voice that said he was still angry but at least he seemed willing enough to listen to you.
Taking a breath, you ran your hands through your (h/c) hair, “I like your hands, I wasn't staring at them because I think they're repulsive. You have..beautiful hands and I can't help that they distract me every time you don't wear those damned gloves. Everything about you distracts me because I like you, Stephen!”
Swallowing a little, you dropped your hands away from your hair and finally looked up at him, unsure where this newfound courage was coming from. It was like your mouth had a mind of its own and it was currently spouting off the things you really didn't want him to know. Yet here you were, standing in front of this man who you not only respected the hell out of but had a massive crush on. And you were telling him all he needed to know to put those pieces together. Brilliant really.
His eyes were still cold, distant because of you'd said most likely and you felt sick to your stomach as you tore your gaze away from his, “I'm sorry...I'll go get my things and I'll be gone within the hour; you won't have to deal with me again, Doctor.”
Stephen let you go, much to your heartbreak as you all but ran through the halls of the Sanctum Sanctorum to the floor where your room was located. You went in and closed the door before the first sob escaped you, leaning against the heavy wooden door as teardrops finally slid down your cheeks. God you were pathetic right now, you knew better than to let emotion creep up on you in the field.
This was your job and you had absolutely ruined it by falling for the man you were supposed to be working with, and it was laughable really. S.H.I.E.L.D trusts you enough to send you out on your own for this important task and you break one of the cardinal rules. If you were lucky enough you might be able to convince Director Fury to at least let you have a desk job rather than firing you.
You rubbed the tears away and went over to your closet, pulling out your bag and putting it on the bed and unzipping it so you could start packing. It was odd really that this was where you learned what rejection felt like for the first time. After all, it wasn't like you'd really had time to do much dating after high school because you'd been training at the academy.
Shaking your head you went back to the closet and reached up to start taking your clothes off the hangers when a hand landed on your shoulder. Instinct kicked in and you whipped around, smoothly sliding your gun from its place at your hip and bringing the muzzle right into the face of the person behind you.
“Not exactly how I envisioned coming to talk, but apparently S.H.I.E.L.D agents solve everything with guns." Came Stephen's dry humor as he tilted his head to look around the gun at you, waiting patiently for you to put it away again.
Dropping your hand, you flicked the safety back on and slid the weapon back into the holster on your hip, willing your heart to calm down. He'd startled you by sneaking up like that, using the sling ring to create a portal into your room. It honestly made you a little angry that he'd not even bothered to come to the door and knock, that he assumed there was anything left to say.
You were hurt over his reaction, though you were mature enough to realize that he'd probably been stunned by your confessions. But still, that didn't completely absolve him, even if he was devastatingly handsome and those hands were the fuel for more than a few of your fantasies.
“Came to make sure I was leaving? Don't worry, I'll be gone as soon as I pack my things." You said in a clipped tone as you struggled not to let any more tears fall, especially not with him watching you.
Turning away from him again, you went to reach into the closet but were stopped this time by The Cloak of Levitation wrapping around your wrist. It had left Stephen's shoulders and was floating beside you as you turned your gaze to it with a fond smile tugging at your lips. You had been fascinated by the relic the first time you'd seen it, but there had been no shortage of humorous moments between the two of you.
“Come on Capey, let go so I can pack up.” You chided softly, your words thick with unshed tears due to the emotions that were welled up inside you right now.
Rather than letting go, the cloak pulled your arm so that you spun around to face Stephen again, another tug sending you flailing right into his chest. His arms wrapped around you, steadying you but also holding you close to him as the cloak settled back onto his shoulders. Standing up straight, you avoided Stephen's eyes to look at the cloak with a clear scowl on your face.
Stephen reached up with one of his hands to tip your head up in his direction so that your eyes met his, “I'm sorry for reacting the way that I did, Y/N.”
You were teetering on the edge of letting those tears fall, and that look in his eyes wasn't helping with your battle not to start crying again. Honestly, you felt like some teenage girl rather than a trained S.H.I.E.L.D agent on assignment. His apology was making it incredibly hard to remember why you'd been upset in the first place, and that hand resting against your jaw was even more distracting.
“I hate it when you do that...” You finally murmured as the tension left your body and you breathed out a heavy sigh, not able to stay upset with him.
When it came to him you never had been able to stay upset with him for very long, but this was on a whole other level than normal. It was the first time that Stephen had ever held you like he was doing now and you found that you liked this very much. He noticed the look on your face and smiled as he dropped his hand away from your face and wrapped both arms around you.
His head rested against yours and you finally lifted your arms up to hug around his waist, closing your eyes as the two of you stood there together, "So what does this mean, exactly..."
A laugh came from him as he turned his head and pressed a kiss against your hair, “It means that if you can put up with me, I'd like to take you to dinner and get to know you better, Agent Y/L/N.”
Scoffing at his use of your professional name you leaned back enough to look up at him, “If you're going to call me Agent, I think I'll pass on that dinner date, Doctor Strange.”
His eyes met yours again with a look you hadn't seen from him before, something soft and warm that made your cheeks turn pink, “I don't think you'll pass, Y/N.”
Stephen dropped his arms away from you and reached out to take your hands in his, causing your breath to catch in your throat as those gorgeous hands finally touched yours willingly. Your gaze drifted down as your fingers slid between his, softly biting your lower lip at how good it felt to touch those hands you'd spent hours staring at.
“So what does this make us, Doctor?” You asked quietly as your thumb rubbed softly against the scarred flesh of his index finger, thrilled just to be able to touch him.
His hand tightened around yours just a little and your gaze lifted up to him as he gave you a soft, warm smile, "Considering the circumstances, I think you can just call me Stephen now, Y/N. And I imagine this makes us a couple if you're not opposed to the idea."
Shaking your head a little, you let go of his other hand so you could bring your arm around his shoulder and let your fingers delve into the soft hair at the back of his head, “I think I like that idea a lot, Stephen. And I'm sorry for making you uncomfortable by staring at your hands...”
A charming smile tugged at his lips as his free arm curled around your waist, his other bringing your hand up to rest against his chest, “You'll have to make it up to me by showing me how much you like my hands then. After I take you to dinner, I'm sure Wong can handle things for a few hours.”
Your cheeks were pink as you smiled back up at him, “That's a lot of work to get done in just a few hours, I think we should get started on that dinner date and make the best use of our time.”
“That sounds like a wonderful idea. And when we get home again...” Stephen said with a soft chuckle as he trailed off before leaning down and pressing his lips to yours.