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The battle against Thanos had been long and bloody, and Tony was exhausted.
Greeting everyone who returned from the Soul World hadn’t helped matters, either, especially since Peter wouldn’t let go of him for a solid twenty minutes- not that Tony was complaining, he was overjoyed to have the Spider-Kid back.
So now, after all the fuss had died down and the other Avengers had headed for home, Tony really felt exhausted.
Of course it was right then that the sorcerer decided to show up.
“Tony-” Stephen began, obviously about to launch into some sort of apology, but Tony cut him off by crushing him with a hug.
“Thank you,” he said quietly, as Stephen began to awkwardly return the hug.
“What for?” Confusion laced the sorcerer’s tone.
“For saving my life back on Titan,” Tony replied as he pulled away from the- admittedly attractive- sorcerer.
“It did lead into that one future where we won,” Stephen pointed out, “But you’re welcome.”
“Wow, really making a good impression here,” Tony said sarcastically, before giving Stephen a small smile to show he didn’t really mean it.
“Ever a genius.” Stephen folded his arms, making a show of staring down at Tony.
“Hey, no, that’s unfair. You can’t use my height against me.”
“I can and I just did.”
“I hate you,” Tony said, scowling.
“Wow, I’m hurt.” Stephen put a hand to his heart, pretending to be upset. “Hating the person who saved your life? Shocking.”
Tony couldn’t stop himself from smiling at that. “Alright, maybe hate was too strong a word. Oh, shit, I’d better be getting back.”
“You want a quick way back to the Compound?” Stephen offered, indicating the sling-ring on his hand.
“That’d be great.” Tony smiled appreciatively at the sorcerer.
It only took Stephen a moment to conjure a portal, and the two stepped through together.
Stephen looked considerably more tired, as though doing such a simple spell had drained him.
Then his eyes settled on Tony’s shoulder, his eyes widening in horror.
“You’re hurt!”
Tony glanced down at his shoulder- now that attention had been called to it, the wound had started to throb with pain.
“Yeah, nothing I can’t-” Before Tony could end his sentence with handle by myself, he felt, and saw, the wound on his shoulder begin to close up, a faint golden glow around it.
After a few moments, it was as if the wound had never been there at all.
Tony looked up, staring at Stephen in disbelief, but before he could say anything, the sorcerer stumbled forwards, and he was forced to catch him.
“Woah, woah, Stephen. You okay there?”
“Yeah, yeah, fine,” the sorcerer muttered. “Just a bit tired. I’d better just get back on over to the Sanctum.”
Stephen began to create another portal, but well before it was large enough for him to step through, he stumbled backwards, and Tony was forced to catch him again as the small portal before the sorcerer fizzed out into nothing.
“Stephen,” Tony began softly. “You need to stop. You’re exhausted and drained. You can stay here, then head back to the Sanctum in the morning.”
“No, no, I’ve got to go back. I’ve got to protect the Sanctum.” Stephen began to try to open another portal, but didn’t get as far as he had before, stumbling backwards against Tony again.
Tony took advantage of this, quickly grabbing Stephen’s hand and pulling off his sling-ring.
“I’ll give this back in the morning,” he said softly.
The sorcerer made a noise of protest and tried to reach for the sling-ring, but stumbled again. He looked completely drained.
Tony began to lead Stephen towards one of the many spare rooms in the Compound, making sure to support him, when the sorcerer lazily turned his head towards Tony.
“Did it hurt?”
Tony blinked for a moment, taken aback, then a ghost of a smile crossed his lips. “What, when I fell from heaven?” he joked.
“No. When you fell from the vending machine. Cause you’re a snack.”
And so it was a flustered Tony, stumbling over his words, who continued to lead the sorcerer towards the room he’d picked for him.