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"I need a model and I need it now. Otherwise I..."
Wong didn't even look up, too used to Stephen's dramatic outbursts by now to even really listen to him. He gave a short "Hmm?" when nothing else came since apparently some kind of reaction was required.
Stephen sighed and fell down beside him on the couch. "I really need help," he finally admitted in a soft tone, all traces of his usual arrogance gone.
Finally. Wong looked up, glad to have his friend back instead of the hyperactive squirrel that had taken his place for the last two days. "Bonus points for you to finally admit it. What do you need?"
Stephen grimaced, too caught up in his own drama to criticize Wong for not listening. "A model."
"A model? For what? Training stitches or maybe neuro-surgery? I didn't know you needed real-life volunteers for that. Or do you mean a corpse?"
Stephen swatted him. "Don't be stupid. It's for his useless drawing class I have to take. They want me to draw a real human being and I have to find them myself."
And since Stephen wasn't the most social person around...
"What about me?"
"Pfff. As if I'd put you through an ordeal like that. You're my friend, Wong, not my enemy."
"Ask Stark then."
Dead Silence. Wong smirked and pretended to be interested in his book.
Then, after a minute or so of silence there was a hesitant: "Do you think he would say yes?"
Judging by the looks he gives you when you don't look at him? And the way he flirts with your clueless ass when you do? "I think your chances are rather high, yes."
"He's always sprinting from one thing to another I don't think that he has the time."
Heaven help him, Wong's best friend was a fucking idiot. "He'll make time. He's a genius and does half the stuff he does while sleeping with his eyes open. Just like other people I could mention. Ask him. It's the chance you've been waiting for."
Maybe, just maybe, the eternal mutual pining that had been going on for months would finally be over if the two of them were forced to spend some time alone together. One could only hope.
Stephen didn't answer, already deep in thought, but Wong sensed that his words had set something in motion. Finally.
He concentrated on his book again, content to leave Stephen to his thoughts.
*
"Tony? Do you have a second?"
"For you? Always. What can I do for you?"
Not the cold what do you want that everybody else got, no. Tony forced himself to be still and really concentrate on Stephen. God, his eyes are gorgeous, he thought. Not for the first time. The whole of Stephen Strange was rather appealing, truth be told. Tony had been looking - and flirting - for a long time now but so far Stephen hadn't shown any reaction beyond honest confusion. It was cute but kind of frustrating at the same time.
"I need your help."
Okay, not the conversation starter he'd envisioned but he could work with that. "Aaaaaand?"
God above, was that really a blush on Stephen's face? Miracles did indeed happen, because before now Tony would have sworn an oath that the guy was incapable of anything but cold arrogance and superiority. The little bit of color made him even more attractive since it brought out his eyes and highlighted his already very prominent cheek bones. Tony wanted to reach out and touch them to check if they would really cut him; like so many of their colleagues claimed.
Prickly, arrogant, emotionless and cold enough to made Siberia feel warm - that where the things that where whispered behind Stephen's back and sometimes thrown into his face. Tony had seen glimpses of the true personality hidden behind the mask and he wanted to get to know it for real. Badly. Sadly, so far, all his overtures had been turned down.
Apparently, he just had to wait until Stephen came to him. Nice.
"Ineedsomeonetodrawformyartclass."
It took a genius of Tony's level to decipher that mess but decipher it he did. It took him a second but as soon as he had it he grinned. "And you want to draw the hottest guy for the best marks?"
Stephen looked up, still blushing, but managed to hold his eyes. "Yes, I do. I'm the best and I only deserve the best. So do you, actually. What's your answer?" He tried to sound brusque but there was a hint of vulnerability in his voice and body language that threatened to melt Tony's heart. And make other parts of his anatomy go into the opposite direction, actually.
Fighting down his own, quite uncustomary, blush he nodded. "Tell me where and when. I'll be there."
He was rewarded with one of those incredible stunning smiles Stephen rarely bestowed onto the world. "My room, tomorrow after class." He turned around and almost ran away.
Tony stared after him, the grin still on his face and his heart beating faster than it had in a long time. "Tomorrow then, Doctor Strange," he murmured, using the nickname Stephen had gotten soon after showing up on Campus with his perfect memory and perfect grades. "I'm looking forward to it."
Let it be a nude model assignment, please, let it be… was his mantra for the rest for the day.
*
It wasn't a nude model assignment, Tony had to learn to his great disappointment. Stephen just had to draw a real-life study of a human being doing some mundane every-day task.
"Nothing I do is ever mundane!" Tony had protested upon hearing that and he'd been rewarded with a loud laugh from Stephen.
"True," he'd finally said. "But neither am I so they shouldn't expect me to deliver something mundane." He spit out the word. "Just drape yourself over that chair; as appealing and provocative as possible, please. I want to blow their minds." Stephen carefully arranged some books and a cup of coffee around him to evoke the feeling of this being a study session.
If he brushed Tony more than once doing that one of them mentioned it. Wong, wisely, had fled the moment Tony had knocked on the door.
"I like the way you think," Tony had answered and proceeded to do exactly as he'd been told, already planning what sort of "payment" he could demand for this huge favor he'd granted.
*
The payment turned out to be a coffee date. Which was followed by other dates, which were followed by hand-holding and kissing and culminated in Stephen moving in with Tony before the term was over.
Wong - and the rest of their by now mostly shared circle of friends - breathed a sigh of relief; glad that the waiting was finally over.
*
The finished artwork turned out to be the best of the class; perfect in execution and choice of model, as the professor and everyone else in class had to admit.
Even Stephen had to admit that yes, he'd outdone himself. Tony was perfect. Beautiful and sexy with just the hint of a bad-boy attitude.
The drawing became legendary on campus, even after they'd graduated and went off on different career paths.
It got a special place in their first apartment, moving with them everytime they could afford to go one level up.
Even after his accident, with his hands and career shattered and broken beyond repair, when he could not even hold a pen to write his own name anymore, he couldn't find it in himself to hate the constant reminder of things lost.
Not when it had given him the most important person in his life; the one who still loved him and held him through the pain and the night terrors of drowning in his car over and over again.
"I was really good-looking back then," Tony said one day when he caught Stephen staring at the portrait once again.
"You still are," Stephen answered and smiled when his husband took his shaking hands between his own and kissed them as if they were something precious and not only fragile.
Tony smiled back and tenderly brushed a strand of hair out of his face. "So are you." He drew Stephen into a kiss before leading him into their bedroom.
They could count on one hand the occasions when they'd said I love you out loud to each other but they showed it in a thousand little gestures each and every day.