Work Text:
“For you? Always.”
It was a phrase Tony had said a lot throughout his life, and for the past couple of years, that phrase had almost always been spoken to Stephen.
It was something that always made Stephen’s heart melt.
It was something that always made him wonder how he ended up so lucky.
But on this particular day, he didn’t want to hear it.
Let’s backtrack a little.
Some villain Stephen hadn’t bothered to remember the name of had decided blasting New York to bits was a good idea, and he was using a deadly combination of magic and tech.
Naturally, Stephen and Wong went to sort this out, and found themselves greeted there by none other than Tony, already engaged in a fierce battle with said villain.
Stephen didn’t like Tony’s chances by himself, though; the villain’s tech certainly wasn’t as good as Tony’s, but without magic, Tony was at a clear disadvantage.
So Stephen, without a second thought, hurled himself into the middle of the fight.
Only seconds later did he feel the slight change in the atmosphere that told Stephen Wong had sealed them all in the mirror dimension; Stephen quickly summoned up his shields, then darted in for a closer look at the villain, who immediately tried to grab for Stephen’s sling ring, who just managed to pull back in time.
“He doesn’t have a sling ring! We can trap him here!” he called out to Wong, and seconds later he heard the tell-tale sound of Wong portalling out of the mirror dimension.
“Tony! We’ve got to get out of here!” Stephen yelled in the direction of the Iron Man suit now relentlessly blasting the villain they’d trapped.
“I’ve almost got this guy beat!” Tony yelled back, and Stephen sighed, because no, Tony did not almost have this guy beat.
Calling on his magic again, Stephen launched himself from the ground to hover at the same height as Tony.
Stephen opened a portal, and yelled across at Tony again. “Come on!”
He saw Tony hesitate before changing course toward where Stephen was now hovering; realising Tony was coming, Stephen darted through the portal.
He then frowned as the moment that Tony should have come crashing through behind him came and went.
Just as Stephen was getting worried enough that he was considering going back through, a red and gold blur crashed through the portal; Stephen quickly snapped it shut behind him, but something was wrong.
Smoke rose from the armour, and as Stephen drew nearer he could smell the telltale scent of burning flesh.
From the look of Tony’s charred armour, the villain must have launched some sort of magical fireball; that was advanced magic, Stephen would grant him that.
Before he could say anything, however, a groan came from Tony, closely followed by, “The bastard shot some fireball thingy at you. I couldn’t let it hit you, how could I?”
It scared Stephen how weak Tony’s voice sounded, and he could already feel tears beginning to build in his eyes, but he blinked them back.
Crying wouldn’t help Tony in this moment.
“I have magical shields that could have deflected it, you idiot,” Stephen replied with a shaky tone as he examined the damage the fireball had done; it had burned straight through Tony’s armour and into his side, and the burn was nasty, almost like a deep cut, and there was blood, blood, blood, so much blood.
“Don’t die for me,” Stephen found himself muttering, then instantly wished he hadn’t, knowing Tony had most likely heard him.
“For you? Always.” Tony’s reply was barely audible, and fear gripped Stephen as he frantically tried to do something, anything , about the wound in Tony’s side.
It was seconds later that he realised how still Tony was.
How limp he’d gone.
The tears that had been slowly building now overflowed; Stephen was helpless to do anything except collapse next to Tony, shaking with grief as tears ran down his face.