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1.
Of course it was Stephen Strange that was annoying Tony while he was trying to work in his lab; who else would it be?
The way the sorcerer was achieving this was by using his magic to open a small portal to snatch away the next tool or part that Tony needed, just seconds before he himself reached for it.
As it happened for the fifteenth time, Tony brandished the repulsor he was working on at Stephen in a fake show of threatening him.
“You are a menace.”
“Careful, Stark, you might accidentally shoot me,” Stephen teased.
“Oh trust me, it’d be no accident.” Tony set the gauntlet back down on the table, removed another panel of shining red from it to peer at the wires underneath. “Why can’t you use your magic to help me instead of to annoy me?”
“Ah, but where’s the fun in that?” Stephen replied with a playful grin.
Tony flipped him off before holding out his hand to Stephen, who, with a small huff, placed the part into Tony’s palm.
With a small, arrogant smile, Tony’s fingers wrapped around the piece and he held it in his hand for a few moments before he put it where it was needed.
“Thank you for your help,” he said sarcastically, without looking up, and he could feel Stephen’s smile.
“My pleasure,” the sorcerer replied, with an equal amount of sarcasm, and Tony stifled a laugh.
It was moments later, after Stephen had left and Tony was putting away the gauntlet that he realised he wanted to kiss Stephen.
The realisation startled him enough that he dropped the gauntlet in his hands.
He didn’t pick it back up.
2.
It was barely a week before Tony wanted to kiss Stephen again.
Well, honestly, he was mixture of emotions at the time.
He’d barely gotten out of the lab when the sorcerer barged in through his front door, dragging a very guilty looking Spider-Kid behind him.
“I just saved your kid’s life, you’re welcome,” Stephen said flatly, depositing Peter at Tony’s feet and turning on his heel, obviously to stalk out the door again.
“Wait, wait, what?” Tony rubbed at his eyes tiredly, and poured himself a cup of coffee as Stephen turned around with a sigh.
“This lunatic ,” Stephen gestured at Peter, who shrunk back, now half-leaning against Tony, “Decided to try and take on an infamous serial killer and all of his buddies.”
Tony spat out his coffee, which thankfully hit the kitchen floor and not anything else. “He what?”
“He’s lucky I was in the area.”
For once, Peter didn’t even argue back.
Tony realised the kid was trembling slightly, and he reached out to put his hands on Peter’s shoulders. “Are you hurt?”
Peter shook his head before finding his voice. “J-just some scrapes and b-bruises.”
Tony pulled the kid into a hug, acutely aware of Stephen watching them.
“Thank god your safe, but don’t you ever do that again, you idiot.”
Tony released the kid, then turned to Stephen; he was extremely thankful for the sorcerer in that moment, enough that he could kiss him.
Instead, Tony gave him a smile. “Thank god for you and your stupid, magical ass.”
“Wow, such a way with words,” Stephen replied sarcastically, but Tony could see he was smiling, so he smiled back.
He was still smiling long after Stephen had left.
3.
It really was the worst time to want to kiss somebody, but somehow Tony found himself wanting to lean forward and stop Stephen in the middle of his argument by pressing his lips to the sorcerer’s.
He didn’t, and instead they just continued to argue, each of them moving closer everytime they made a point, until they were practically chest to chest, hurling opinions and insults back and forth.
“Mr Stark? Is there supposed to be a building collapsing around us?”
This snapped Tony’s attention away from their argument, and in an instant his expression changed.
Oh fuck.
“We’d better get out of here,” he said as his mask snapped back over his face and he shot forward, grabbing both the kid and the sorcerer to pull them from the path of the debris and rubble.
Once they were clear, the argument picked back up right where it left off, and Tony barely managed to make out the sound of Peter’s exasperated sigh before the sound of the kid shooting out a web and swinging away met his ears.
4.
They did have a reason for walking through Central Park this late at night, but for the life of him Tony couldn’t remember what they were even here for.
Some villain or something that they needed to discuss, probably.
Stephen was speaking now, actually, but Tony couldn’t focus on his words.
He was too busy giving his attention to the way the moonlight illuminated Stephen, reflecting in his eyes and casting a soft glow across the sorcerer.
Then he realised Stephen had stopped speaking, and he met the sorcerer’s gaze, which sparkles with amusement.
“Did you hear a single thing I just said?”
“No, sorry, I was busy thinking about how much coffee I’d need to actually stay awake while you talk.”
“Probably not nearly as much as I’d need to stay awake while you talk,” Stephen replied good-naturedly, a smirk on his face. “Now, as I was saying…”
5.
Tony was hosting what was undeniably the most extravagant Christmas party possible with only a handful of people.
Since he and the rogue Avengers had made an uneasy amends, Steve and Bucky and the others were there, along with Thor, Loki, the Spider-Kid and all the other Avengers.
Everything was totally fine, until Stephen arrived.
He was wearing an oversized sweater, and a Santa hat, and small smile was plastered on his face as soon as he entered and saw the over-the-top decorations.
It was almost too much for Tony to handle; Stephen looked absolutely adorable.
Adorable wasn’t a word he often associated with the sorcerer; he’d generally think of him as stunning, or handsome, but in this moment, Stephen was nothing but adorable .
Tony had to physically force himself to look away, pretty sure he’d actually die if he didn’t.
He then had to force himself to go over and greet the sorcerer, and had to pray he didn’t combust on the spot; he somehow managed to survive greeting him, and then was able to slip back off into the party to try and avoid Stephen for the night so that he didn’t do something stupid.
+1.
It was later into Tony’s Christmas party that disaster unfolded.
Tony had been trying to make his way over to Peter and his Aunt.
He hadn’t been paying attention to where he was going , and bumped straight into Stephen; he began to apologise, but the words died on his lips as he noticed Stephen’s eyes drift upwards.
I’m under the goddamn mistletoe, aren’t I? God fucking damnit.
After another moment, Stephen had leaned forward and pressed his lips to Tony’s; the billionaire stood there, stunned, too shocked to react.
It was over in a quick moment, and Stephen stepped back with an unrecognisable expression on his face.
“Just needed a good reason to do that,” he said.
“Too scared to do it earlier?” Tony teased before pulling Stephen back down for another kiss.
They broke apart, and Tony recognised the song that was now playing throughout the building.
He smiled, offering Stephen his hand.
“Care for a dance?”
“Thought you’d never ask.”
The two began to dance together, keeping their hands firmly clasped together as they did.
The song was about halfway through when Tony made a subtle hand gesture; the music instantly changed, blasting through the speakers.
‘SOMEBODY ONCE TOLD ME-‘
“I hate you,” Stephen said with a scowl before the two of them burst out laughing.