Work Text:
Months after Thanos, with his and Pepper’s relationship kind of rocky already but the wedding still steadily approaching, Tony was astounded by the first few petals that he coughed up one day.
Over the next week, it steadily grew worse, until he was coughing up fully formed flowers.
He studied them, and discovered what kind they were- red carnations, symbolising love and pride; white carnations, symbolising true love; and, of course, daffodils, which symbolise unrequited love.
As time wore on, anemones began showing up amongst the other flowers- after some research, Tony found that these symbolised fading hope, which was exactly how he felt.
His time was nearly up.
He couldn’t hide it from Pepper any longer.
The week before their wedding, he told her.
The wedding was called off, Pepper revealing that she didn’t think they’d work out anyway- Tony had secretly been beginning to wonder the same.
The amiable break-up was a blessing, since Pepper was still considered a close friend in Tony’s mind, and she was rushing around tending to him and patiently sweeping up the flowers and cleaning numerous blood stained clothes from when Tony had coughed up flowers.
Of course, it didn’t take long for the press to uncover this, and Tony let out a groan the first time Pepper showed him the news with the headline “Tony Stark- A Hero Meets His End?”
It hadn’t taken long for Tony to work out who he had Hanahaki for- Stephen Strange.
He’d found himself more than a little entranced by the sorcerer during their battle against Thanos, and the sorcerer showing up from time to time had made Tony fall for him.
And Tony had fallen hard, the flowers made that much obvious.
It didn’t take long for the other Avengers to have all visited him, all trying to sound like they weren’t saying goodbye to Tony when they really were.
Only two people hadn’t been to see Tony now; Peter, whom didn’t even know, since Tony had already asked Aunt May to shield him from the news and had promised to call her if he was actually on his deathbed, and Stephen, who was no doubt too busy as Sorcerer Supreme.
As if summoned, the Sorcerer Supreme himself stepped out of a portal and into Tony’s room.
Tony raised an eyebrow from where he was sitting in the bed, but didn’t comment, simply setting down his tablet.
“I heard you were sick,” Stephen stated, his voice betraying no emotion.
“You got that right.” Tony shot Stephen a crooked smile, then he felt the flowers force their way up his throat, and he coughed, a splattering of petals and blood and thorns that scratched his throat.
“Painful,” Stephen said, not a question but a statement.
“Painful doesn’t even begin to describe it,” Tony replied, wiping the blood from his mouth.
“Yeah, I know.”
“You know?” The realisation that Stephen probably already had someone in his life made more flowers creep up his throat, and soon he was coughing and spluttering again, more blood and flowers showering the bedsheets. He spotted a yellow flower in amongst the rest.
“That’s new,” he commented, picking up the flower.
“A hyacinth,” The sorcerer murmured, a startling reminder that the sorcerer was in the room. He looked up and met Stephen’s gaze as he continued with, “They symbolise jealousy.”
Tony almost flinched, but managed to hold himself together. “I’ve had this disease for a while, seems about time jealousy gets thrown into the mix.”
Stephen just frowned. “Do you know who it’s for?”
“The Hanahaki?” Tony asked, mildly surprised. “Yes.”
“Do you mind if I-”
“Yes, I mind. I’d prefer not to say.”
Stephen, obviously subdued, looked down at the floor. “I’ve survived longer than most.”
“You’ve still-”
“Got it? Yeah. Perks of being a sorcerer- you can delay the effects, even hide them. But it’ll get me eventually.” Stephen fiddled with his sling ring. “It’s killed far stronger sorcerers.”
“So I guess we’re both done for,” Tony said, grinning despite the ache in his heart until more flowers crept up his throat, and he was coughing again, this time yellow hyacinths dominating the types of flowers that he coughed up.
He waited for the bout to pass, but more and more flowers kept coming, petals and blood and leaves covering the bed, thorns scratching at his throat as some red roses forced their way out of his mouth.
Finally, it stopped; Tony shuddered, and lay back, eyes closed, exhausted.
“Jesus Christ,” Stephen muttered. “It’s… it’s that bad already?”
Tony opened an eye, and made a dismissive movement with his hand. “I’ve had a couple of bouts like this, they always pass.”
“Tony, this is serious. It’s in the final stages. You’ve got, Jesus, days if you’re lucky.” Stephen ran a hand through his hair in agitation.
“Good,” Tony muttered under his breath. He couldn’t take much more of this.
“What did you say?” Stephen’s mostly-curious tone filled Tony’s ears, but for some reason it filled Tony with rage.
“I said good! I can’t take anymore of this! Goddamnit, Stephen, it’d be better if you just leave- you’re making it worse!”
Silence fell, and Tony realised what he’d said.
Shit, shit, shit-
“Tony,” Stephen began, voice dangerously low. “You have Hanahaki because of me? You have it for me?”
Seeing no point in trying to hide it, Tony just shrugged. “Yeah.”
Stephen ran a hand through his hair, and swore out loud.
“Jesus Christ, Tony, you idiot. You absolute idiot. I’m an idiot, too… Jesus Christ!”
“I- what?”
In response, Stephen just leaned forwards to press his lips to Tony’s. Surprisingly, Tony’s shock didn’t show at all, and he returned the kiss without hesitation.
After a moment, they broke apart, and Stephen smiled softly at Tony.
Tony let out a small yelp of pain, and brought up his hand to his ear to catch the flower bud that had formed there.
“You’re cured,” Stephen said softly, before reaching up behind his own ear to catch the flower bud behind it. “And so am I.”
Tony let out a small laugh, then pulled the sorcerer down for another kiss.