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He opened his eyes. At least he tried, but then he tightened them again, because the light was blinding. After a moment he tried again, this time more carefully. He opened his eyelids, and the glow again stung him painfully, but in the end his eyes became accustomed to the light, which turned out not so bright. It was an ordinary sunny day, although the sun was hiding behind the clouds. He could hear louder and louder shouts around himself, shreds of conversation, laughter, crying and shouting – the hearing returned to normal. A familiar voice came from somewhere to his left.
"Peter! Peter, kid, look at me!"
Stephen slowly turned his head.
Tony Stark was kneeling nearby. He hugged tightly that boy, Peter, supporting him with his arm. His other hand brushed his hair back from his face and patted his cheek.
"Peter! Hey, Peter!"
In the end, the boy moved. He groaned – probably the light also shined in his eyes – but after a moment he focused his eyes on the man leaning over him.
"Mr. Stark?"
"You're all right? How are you? Does anything hurt you?"
Stephen could only see Stark's profile, but even that was enough to see that his eyes were suspiciously moist and his hands trembled, as did his voice. He smiled faintly and carefully tried to get up.
"I'm fine. I think so," the boy said. "What happened? It's over now? I remember that... I remember such a golden light... "
"Don’t say anything. It's over now." Tony pulled Peter close to him, closing him in a tight hug. "It's all over, boy. You came back."
Peter did not answer, just clenched his hands on Tony's sweatshirt.
"Good job, Stark."
Tony raised his head and looked at Dr. Strange. Gently, he freed himself from Peter's embrace, telling him lie down and not overwork, then stood up and approached the other man.
"It's also your merit," he said. "Without you it would not work."
"I just introduced the plan. You realized it."
"I still cannot believe it worked." Tony shook his head and smiled. "One in fourteen million chance... "
"Yes, one in fourteen million chance... "
Stephen wanted to add something more, but he suddenly felt the ground running from under his feet. He would have fallen if Tony did not support him.
"You too should not overwork yourself," he remarked.
The concern in his voice made Strange feel warm in his chest. Under normal circumstances, he would not allow himself to show weakness, but these were not normal circumstances. They made it. They won. They returned.
"I'm glad you're all right," he said, hugging Tony, who gasped in surprise.
"I'm also glad you're okay," Stark said after a moment, returning his grip.
Stephen was glad Tony could not see his face. Then, on Titan, he saw fourteen million six hundred and five possible futures. He chose one. And he will never admit to anyone that it was not the surest option.
That he could look into the future allowed them to make a plan to save the universe. He had to evaluate each vision and decide what the consequences would be. There was no place for mistake. Then he said that out of fourteen million six hundred and five options, only one choice guarantees a win. He lied. They won in eleven cases. Eleven different ways to fight and win. Of these, three were absolutely certain, but he did not choose any of them.
Fourteen million six hundred and four times, he saw Tony Stark die and chose the one future that guaranteed his life. Stephen will never admit to anyone that for Tony he risked the entire universe.