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Nearly silent crying greeted Tony when he came into the living room in search of his errant lover. He'd woken up alone and to a cold bed, just like he had gone to sleep. Bad news since Stephen, always in search of warmth, usually cuddled up to him.
"Stephen? Baby?"
No reaction. Tony swallowed and made sure to make some noise as he approached. Stephen was curled up on the couch, the Cloak wrapped around him like a blanket. It would have looked cute without the tears. The Cloak perked up to wave a tired greeting at him and Tony waved back by instinct.
There was still no reaction when Tony went down on his knees in front of Stephen and put one hand on his side and the other on his cheek. "Baby? What happened?" When Stephen had left him this morning he had been okay and if something bad had happened Tony would have heard about it.
Stephen kept his eyes closed but the tears glistening on his face told their own damning tale. "Nothing," he whispered finally and tried to make himself even smaller. But Tony's gentle hold on his body hindered him and he gave up without even trying again. His wordless surrender broke Tony's heart. Stephen's skin felt cool and clammy and he was shivering and obviously too weak to even move on his own.
Fuck. Tony knew those signs. "What happened?" he asked and carefully helped Stephen up into a semi-sitting position. He would have preferred to just pick Stephen up and carry him to bed but that sadly was beyond his capabilities. Instead he choose to squeeze in between Stephen and the couch and cradle Stephen in his arms. Stephen let himself be manipulated without any resistance but he also didn't offer any help. He guided Stephen's head to rest on his shoulder and just held on while the Cloak settled over both of them. A corner wound itself around Tony's right wrist as if to look for reassurance while Tony encircled Stephen's right wrist with the fingers of his left hand.
He'll be okay, Tony mouthed. I'll make sure of that.
When Stephen exhausted himself with magic his body always ended up paying the price - Tony hated it but knew that he couldn't do anything against it. Just like Stephen had long since stopped in trying to stop him from getting beaten up and bruised in his armor.
This time, at least, Stephen's pulse was still strong and steady, and now that Tony was here he could help with the shivering. Also, there was no blood was far as he could see. So, not too bad after all.
"Stephen?"
"Hmm?" Stephen was already drifting away again and as much as Tony wanted to just let him sleep he had to know.
"When did you come back and why didn't you come to bed when you did?"
Stephen snuggled closer and opened his eyes for the bare minimum. Tony rewarded him with a kiss to the tip of his nose before the Cloak swooped in to dab away the tears. Stephen was too exhausted to protest against the gesture and just let it do its thing.
"Checked in on you," he finally whispered. "But you were sleeping and I…"
... didn't want to disturb you. The old argument, once again. Tony suppressed a frustrated sigh. He wouldn't have acted differently if their roles had been reversed, he knew. Sound sleep was rare enough for both of them that none would never disturb the other except for the most dire of circumstances.
"How bad is it?" he asked instead.
"Wong made the portal for me. He wanted to keep me in Kamar-Taj but I wanted to go back home." Back to you, went unsaid but not unheard. Tony smiled despite himself and adjusted his hold so that he could better snuggle up to Stephen.
There would be words with Wong, later on, he decided. They had a standing arrangement to call each other when Stephen exhausted himself and Wong had never broken it before.
"Don't be mad at him." As pretty much always Stephen knew what he was thinking. "Promised him that I would tell you myself."
"Of course you did." He closed his eyes and forced himself to breathe calmly and as deeply as he could, just like Bruce had taught him.
When he calmed himself down a little bit he let go of Stephen's wrist to find his way under the loose workout tunic he wore. With only one instead of usual three layers of fabric and without the numerous leather belts it was much easier go get down to Stephen's skin. As always Stephen relaxed a little bit more the moment Tony put his hand on the bare skin of his stomach. He could feel the scar from Stephen's latest brush with an alien threat under his fingertips and gently stroked over the still slightly sensitive area. Stephen shivered but didn't flinch so he found the touch pleasurable. Tony smiled and kissed his ear since that was the only part he could reach without dislocating anything.
"You shouldn't have exhausted yourself like that," he admonished. It had only been a few weeks since the last time, after all, and Stephen needed longer and longer to recover from the depths of magical exhaustion. It was a trend both Tony and Wong watched helplessly and with growing worry.
"I had no choice."
He never did, really, and Tony hated it. "I know." He shifted his weight to hold Stephen more securely and continued to rub his belly while being grateful for being allowed to do so. Stephen had only recently stopped shying away from comforting touches and Tony still couldn't really believe that he was finally allowed to put his hands on his body whenever and wherever he wanted.
"It was the choice between exhausting myself and letting someone else die. I just couldn't…"
"Shh, relax, I know." Tony hated the insecure note in Stephen's voice and tried to calm him down with more gentle touches. "You don't have to…"
Apparently he did. "One of our novices broke an artefact," Stephen continued after a short coughing fit. "The mystic energy contained in it would have…" he broke off, clearly searching for words but not finding them, "… it would have been bad," he finally said and looked annoyed at this inability to articulate himself better.
"And you conjured a shield around the area to contain it," Tony finished for him. Stephen was the very best at defensive shielding spells, or so he'd been told, and so it stood to reason that he took on that particular burden.
Stephen nodded weakly against his shoulder. "Took the others longer than expected to deal with it and since I had to hold the spell at maximum strength…"
"I get it." Tony let his hand rest against the almost healed wound. There was only skin and bones beneath his fingers, no reserves whatsoever left. Tony swallowed down the threatening tears and tried to sound calm and reassuring. "Rest now. You can tell me the rest later."
Stephen sank even deeper into his embrace and there was a faint smile on his lips. "I will," he promised. "I just…"
"Sleep now, darling. I've got you." He watched as Stephen's eyes closed as he finally surrendered to sleep. "Let me guess," he asked the Cloak, "no one else could have done it, right?"
The Cloak shook itself; a clear no.
Tony sighed. "Thought so. The downside of being the best there is." He once again looked at Stephens too thin and too pale face. The heavy magic use was eating him alive and there just wasn't enough time to rest and recover between the various incidents, not matter how hard he and Wong tried to keep Stephen away from everything but the most serious ones. "This has to stop, it's killing him."
The Cloak nodded its assent and squeezed his wrist gently. They both knew that there wasn't anything they could do but help Stephen recover as far as possible before the next magical emergency came along and pushed him even further unto…
Tony shook his head, unwilling to complete the thought. "Not on my watch," he vowed. "Ours," he corrected himself after looking at the Cloak. "And if I have to hand-feed him myself."
"Hmm, sounds like fun," Stephen suddenly murmured and shifted in Tony's hold. "We should try it sometimes." He was already deeply asleep again by the time Tony overcame his shock and looked at him.
"Stephen?" No reaction. It didn't matter. Tony was already busy making plans in getting Stephen's strength back up. "I'm going to take care of you and make sure that you're well again before you have to get out there again. I promise."
He settled down to keep watch over Stephen for as long as necessary, while the Cloak cocooned them both in its warmth.