Chapter Text
Soulmates. An interesting concept.
What was more interesting was Tony Stark, living in a house, alone, with no mirrors.
He’d destroyed them all long ago, way back when he’d decided he didn’t deserve a soulmate.
His soulmate could look totally different now. Tony could walk past them on the street, and he wouldn’t know.
His friends stopped trying to get him to put up mirrors. Everytime they so much as brought one into the house, Tony smashed it to pieces.
Now Tony was an older man, resigned to spending his days tinkering in his workshop and avoiding contact with anyone from the outside world except for his friends.
Of course, since he was Tony Stark, he had interviews and press conferences and the Stark Expo and so forth.
But it was easy enough to do them, because Tony knew he wouldn’t find his soulmate there.
If he was out in public, he never looked at any mirrors that might be in stores, and he never even risked a glance at a reflective surface, either.
Tony simply wouldn’t accept that he had a soulmate, and that was that.
Stephen, however, was another case entirely.
He wanted a soulmate, always had.
Of course, it didn’t take him long to know who his soulmate was, which was surprising, considering he mostly kept to himself and didn’t always keep up with current events.
But everyone knew who Tony Stark was, so of course Stephen would know about him eventually. Being assigned Tony as a soulmate, however- Stephen felt unworthy of someone so great.
And so he went and studied and learned until he could become a doctor, and worked his way upwards until he was a famous surgeon. He did enjoy the job, and saving lives always made him feel like a hero, but mostly he did it because now, finally, he was worthy of his soulmate.
Worthy of someone as great as Tony.
So that when he eventually met him, he’d be worth Tony’s time.
Then Tony was kidnapped.
Held hostage by terrorists.
He had the shrapnel in his chest, had to make the miniature arc reactor.
Had Yinsen’s assistance on making the first ever Iron Man suit over the span of two and a bit months.
Was forced to watch Yinsen die, but with the knowledge that Yinsen would see his wife, his soulmate , again.
But during the time in the cave, when he was making the suit, Tony saw something.
A reflection, in the cold hard metal of the suit.
Almost instantly he looked away, but not before he caught a glimpse of his soulmate.
Forever ingrained in his mind; the image of pale skin and dark gray hair.
During the time Tony was held hostage, Stephen was full of panic and worry.
Everyday when he’d look in the mirror, Tony was covered in bruises, or blood, or was pale and sickly looking.
And so he decided to write letters to Stark Industries. Letters simply signed “Tony’s soulmate”, updating them on Tony’s condition.
Reassuring them, and himself, that Tony was alive.
After two months of this, Stephen was still full of worry at the fact that Tony hadn’t been found.
Two and a half months, and Tony’s reflection was looking less sickly. But it hadn’t failed to slip past Stephen’s notice that there was something in the man’s chest, something that was glowing with a blue light.
And then finally, after three months of agonising worry, it was announced that Tony was found. Alive.
And finally Stephen could relax.
When Tony got back, not only did a lot of things change, including him becoming Iron Man, he found out about the letters.
Pepper and Rhodey let him read every single one, and Tony was touched by the detail and concern that seemed to resonate from every line.
He noticed they were typed, and whether that was so they couldn’t be traced or to make them legible, Tony didn’t know, but they were heartwarming all the same.
But the thing is, he didn’t deserve a soulmate.
He had never deserved a soulmate.
But he sure as hell wanted one.
And after reading these letters…
He thinks he wants the one that he’s got.
Just as all the stress in Stephen’s life seemed to ease, just when they’d found Tony and everything seemed to be returning to normal, it happened.
The accident.
The car crash.
His hands, damaged beyond repair.
So much nerve damage that his hands would always shake.
So much nerve damage that he couldn’t be a surgeon anymore.
His life was ruined.
And he didn’t deserve Tony.
It was with anguish that he smashed all but one of the mirrors in his house.
He almost destroyed them all, but couldn’t bare to not have a way to check on
Tony.
Even if he didn’t deserve him, he still cared.
As long as he could see that Tony was fine, he’d go through his whole life without a soulmate.
Tony had taken the complete opposite approach.
The letters from his soulmate made him want a soulmate, even if he didn’t necessarily deserve one.
He bought some mirrors. Put them up in his house.
Found himself entranced by the face that stared back at him.
And one day, without even knowing exactly why, Tony raised a hand up to the mirror.
He supposed he was going to put a hand on it, try to feel the image of the man that he saw.
And he gasped when he saw his soulmate’s reflection lift its hand, too.
Revealing scars that crisscrossed the man’s hand, over the palms and back, covering it.
In that moment, Tony felt nothing but sorry for his soulmate. Nothing but pity.
He wanted nothing more than to take the scars away, take away the pain that he knew must come with them.
But there was nothing he could do.
Instead, he just vowed that he would meet his soulmate.
And that he would find some way, any way, to help him.
It was about six months after the accident that Stephen found out about Kamar Taj.
And so he went to find it, desperate to make himself worthy of Tony again.
And there he got offered something far beyond what he’d wanted.
But he accepted it anyway.
He trained as a sorcerer, slowly growing his powers.
It wasn’t what he’d gone there for, but each day, each time he mastered a new spell, he felt like he became a little closer to being worthy of Tony.
But no matter how much he did, how many spells he learnt, it never felt like enough.
Stephen constantly felt like he needed to do something more.
Like he wasn’t quite worthy yet.
Almost, but not quite.
So he kept training.
And he only got time to look in the mirror occasionally, until he was almost never able to check on Tony at all.
The day they met was the day that aliens decided to try and invade the earth for a second time.
Luckily it only seemed to be a scouting party, but it was aliens, and both Tony and Stephen had decided, unbeknownst to the other, to try and stop them.
And, surprisingly, they didn’t get a proper look at each other until after the fight.
Tony didn’t realise he was fighting alongside his soulmate until all the aliens lay dead on the asphalt road, though his soulmate sure as hell noticed who he was instantly.
Tony turned to thank the man, the sorcerer , beside him for his help, and his jaw practically fell off of his face when he saw who it was.
The same person he’d seen in his reflection everyday for the past three months.
His soulmate.
“You’re…” Tony couldn’t form enough coherent words to even speak. He swallowed, and tried again. “You’re… you’re my soulmate.”
The man just inclined his head, and Tony found himself becoming entranced once again. Tony let out a breath, one he didn’t know he’d been holding.
“You’re so much more handsome in person,” he managed to say. The sorcerer’s eyes widened.
“I… uh I…” the man stuttered, unable to seem to get anything out.
“I’m Tony,” Tony said, offering out a hand for the other man to shake. “Though you might know that.”
The man laughed. “Yes, yes I do.” He took Tony’s hand and shook it. “Stephen. Stephen Strange.”
Tony tried not to take note of the shakiness of the sorcerer’s hands, or the feelings of the scars brushing against his skin, but he couldn’t stop the thoughts from registering.
“I… I can’t help but notice the scars on your hands… if there’s anything I can do to help get them healed…”
Stephen’s eyes widened at this, touched that Tony would notice, let alone care.
“I doubt there’s much I can do about it now,” Stephen said wryly. Stephen’s breath hitched as Tony gently took one of his hands in his own, and ran his fingers lightly over some of the scars.
“Do they hurt?” he questioned quietly.
“Not very often,” Stephen responded, finding that his own voice took on a softer tone.
Tony then looked up, meeting Stephen’s eyes. Stephen then used his free hand to indicate Tony’s arc reactor- he knew it now simply housed his suit, but it was still embedded into Tony’s flesh.
“May I?” Tony gave a nod and Stephen reached out, gently running a hand over it. The thing he’d seen on tv and in the reflection was here before him, real and solid as he ran his fingers ever gently over it, feeling the cool metal where it met with Tony’s skin.
Tony almost shivered when Stephen’s fingers touched his skin, the small amount that was exposed by the hole in his clothing that was there to accommodate the arc reactor. Stephen retracted his hand after a minute, and Tony found himself already missing the man’s touch.
“Would you like to come back to the tower with me?” Tony offered, throat feeling dry.
“I’d love to,” Stephen replied evenly. Tony felt the sorcerer take Tony’s hand in his, and the two laced their fingers together before beginning to walk, perfectly in step with one another.
If Stephen was Tony’s soulmate, then Tony didn’t want anyone else.
He was, he decided, attracted to sorcerer’s with scarred hands, dark gray hair and aqua eyes only.
No one else could take Stephen’s place.
Not now, not ever.