Chapter Text
Stephen wasn’t a simple guy. Though from most people's perspective he was. To most people, he was just a detective who was amazingly good at his job and managed to work his way up quickly. But only a select few—well only two people—knew both sides of him. They knew the cunning detective and the Sorcerer Supreme.
Yeah, he was both of them, which was a tall order for even him. He had to run out of the office if Wong ever needed him or he had to stop in the middle of training because fucking Tony needed him on a case. It’s hard to handle sometimes, running in between so many things but having to make sure nobody knows what he’s doing. But he managed, even if he got little to no sleep.
Or like today where he’s gotten no sleep in the past forty-eight hours.
“I still don’t know why you do this to yourself,” Wong said, leaning against the door frame, watching as Stephen finished dressing himself up for work. His work clothes were simple, a white dress shirt with a dark blue vest, a black tie, and black slacks. And he was wearing the Eye of Agamotto of course, he didn’t go anywhere without it at this point.
Wong was the first one to know about this whole thing he had going on, he was his best friend after all. And he still fondly holds the memory of Wong spitting out his tea when he told him that he was going to be a detective. He remembers it every time he needs some cheering up, it always does the job.
“Because I want to help as many people as I can,” He explained like he had a thousand times before. He honestly wanted to help everyone he could, it felt like he had too. It felt like a punch in the gut if he just stood there and did nothing while innocent people got killed. So, what else was he meant to do?
“You could still help people if you were the Sorcerer Supreme full time,” He pointed out. “And you would be able to get a full night’s rest,”
“Yeah, I could, but,” He reached up and adjusted his tie a bit. “I wouldn’t be able to help like the way I am right now as a detective. I couldn’t help out in any cases, solve murders, you know the normal stuff.”
Wong shot Stephen a pointed look but he just smirked back at him. It felt like they had something like this conversation every week. It always ended the same. Wong sighed and shook his head.
“Fine, I won’t hold you back from doing it,” He smiled sadly. “Just get some sleep tonight, all right?”
Stephen smiled back at him and nodded. “I’ll try to, promise,” He said. They both knew that it meant that Stephen would try to go to sleep only if he didn’t get a good case today.
Wong gave him a nod before walking out of the room, probably on his way to Kamar-Taj.
Stephen sighed and shook his head. It was nice to know that Wong cared about him. But he didn’t want Wong to worry over him too much, even if Stephen gave him a lot to worry about.
He grabbed his leather jacket from the dresser it was lying on. Throwing it on and heading out the door, mentally preparing himself for (hopefully) a long day of paperwork with a bit of Stark being an asshole mixed in there. But what else was new?
When this first started out Wong had expected him to make a portal to work each day. Which was absurd-especially since he was trying to keep it a secret that he was a goddamned Sorcerer. Plus, he needed to get to and from crime scenes, and he occasionally had to bring people with him. He couldn’t use a portal then.
So, he bought a motorcycle to use.
Yes, he could have just bought a car, but he’s not sure he can drive one anymore without panicking and remembering….that.
Motorcycle it was.
He slid onto his motorcycle, not bothering with a helmet. He enchanted it when he first got it. It would create a force field around him if he did get in a crash and with a little bit of illusion magic anyone who wanted to see him with a helmet on would.
Stephen sighed as he put in the key and started to drive off to work.
He furrowed his eyebrows as he walked into the office; the air felt tense somehow. Nobody was talking. Not even Clint, which was amazing really. He’d have to learn what was going on so he could shut Clint up when he was getting annoying. Which was like every moment he talked.
It felt as if the whole entire office was looking at him, waiting for him to do something. Stephen glanced over at Natasha, whose desk was nearest to him.
“What the hell’s going on? I didn’t grow a third eye or something, right?” He said disguising it as a light joke. But really he was concerned since it was an actual real possibility at this point.
Natasha smiled sweetly, which was a smile that always meant trouble.
“Stark wants to see you in his office, he has a little surprise for you,” She explained with a shrug of a shoulder in the office’s general direction.
Stephen’s eyebrows furrowed even further. Why the hell would Tony want to see him? Tony left him to do his own thing, only calling him to his office when he needed him on a special case. But those were usually private meetings though, the whole precinct never really knew about them.
“Okay…?” He trailed off. He shook his head and started walking over too Tony’s office.
“Good luck Strange!” Clint called out as Stephen entered the office, closing the door behind him.
Tony was sitting at his desk, typing away at his computer. The office looked exactly how you would think Tony’s office would work once you got to know him. The walls were painted a nice hot red, making the black desk pop in the room. There were a few case files resting on the side of a desk and Stephen felt an itch in his chest to just grab one and look through it. But he could control that itch, for now at least.
Tony glanced up from his computer. “Stephen, what are you doing in here?” Tony joked with one of his classic Stark grins™.
Stephen rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’m here because you wanted me here, and apparently the whole goddamned precinct knew about it before me,”
Tony leaned back in his chair. “Yeah, okay fair I have a good reason for that. Just come on sit down,” He said gesturing to the chairs that were in front of his desk.
Stephen gave Tony a quick pointed glare but moved over to sit down in one of the chairs.
“So, what is this about?” Stephen asked.
“Well, someone likes to skip the foreplay,” Tony murmured, grabbing one of the case files off the desk. He flipped through it for a moment, and Stephen couldn’t help but wonder if it actually was a special case that Tony wanted him on.
“Ah, here we go.” He gently tossed the file on the desk making it slide over to Stephen.
Stephen took the file in his ever shaking hands, but at least the shaking wasn’t too noticeable. His eyes were immediately drawn to the picture of a man with long black hair who seemed to be wearing a black suit.
“Some sort of missing person case?” He asked as he skimmed the information on the page.
Tony snorted. “No, Stephen, not everything’s a case you know,” He sighed.
“I don’t think everything is a case,” Stephen retorted as he glanced up, already annoyed with Tony even though he’d only been here for only a minute.
“Yeah sure you don’t,” Tony rolled his eyes.
“Whatever, just tell me what this is all about,”
Tony smiled, a smile that could not be any good. He put his hands behind his head.
“This is your new partner, Loki Laufeyson,”
Those words hit Stephen like a fucking fireball. No, no, Tony couldn’t have put him with a partner. He’s almost always worked alone, (with the exception of coroners and forensics of course,) only bringing other detectives to help him when he was at the end of his rope. Which was almost never. It was how he worked best; it was how he solved every case. It was how he kept his secret.
“No,” Stephen said firmly, dropping the file on the desk.
“Yes,”
“No,” He said gritting his teeth. “Stark, I can’t work with a partner, you know this already,”
“Strange I know that, but you can’t keep running around without a partner to back you up!” Tony grabbed the folder and held it back out to him.
Stephen crossed his arms. “I don’t need anyone to back me up, and if I do I’ll just ask Natasha or something,”
“She won’t be there all the time, and neither will anyone else,”
“So? Like I said I don’t need backup,”
Tony clenched his jaw.
“Don’t need backup? Strange we all need back up sometimes, and just because you haven’t been shot yet doesn’t mean that you don’t need a partner! In fact your damn lucky that you haven’t gotten shot,” It wasn’t really luck, more just he was really good at dodging bullets and really good with putting up a fight. Which were both things he never expected to be good at.
Tony had a semi-good point though. He ran into everything head first, usually without back up. But that was how he worked.
“It’s still a no from me,”
“Too bad, you’re still getting him as a partner,”
“But-”
“But nothing, you’re getting him as a partner and that’s final,” Tony said, glaring at Stephen. He glared back at Tony, he knew he couldn’t just walk out of here, or just continue to deny Tony. Neither of which would turn out that well for him.
Stephen groaned. “I’ll work one case with him and we’ll see how that goes. Deal?”
Tony smirked like he had won, which he kind of had honestly.
“Sounds good,” He said, offering the file back to him. “Now take this file, go back to your desk and learn a little about your new partner before he gets here,”
Stephen hesitantly grabbed the file from Tony. “When is he going to be here?” He asked getting up from his seat.
Tony shrugged. “Don’t know, Thor said he would be here soon, but he’s just a little uh….” Tony trailed off, glancing around the room. Stephen rose an eyebrow.
“Nervous to do this,”
Stephen slowly nodded, not quite believing what Tony was telling him. He turned on his heel and walked out the door. Today was not going to be a fun day for him.
“I am Loki, God of mischief, I should not be working for the police!” Loki said to Thor for the twentieth time during this car ride that Thor had forced him into. He could leave, just disappear from the car and go back. But he kind of wanted to stay here. To see where Thor was going with all this of course.
“Brother, this will be good for you,” Thor said plain and simple. Not taking his eyes off the road for even a split second. He must be used to this by now, which was horrible. Loki would have to up his game.
“Oh, yeah? Working with all your little Avenger friends will do me good?” Loki scoffed crossing his arms against his chest, feeling the seat belt push against his neck slightly. Norns he hated this thing, he understood that Midgardians needed protection against the most simple of things. But why did they always have to make it so uncomfortable?
Thor sighed, shaking his head. “You have been sulking in your room for almost year,” He pointed out. Loki cringed slightly at that. It was true, he barely left his room, only leaving when Thor’s little team needed him.
“So? Just let me sulk for another year, then I’ll be fine,” Loki said with a twinge of pain behind his words. And he knew that Thor noticed it.
“Loki….I know that what happened to Asgard was hard on all of us.”
“You mean all four of us?” Loki said bitterly. He turned to look out the window, watching the cars pass by them.
“Yes, but everyone has tried to move on. Except you, that is,” Thor sounded sad as he said that. Like he was sad that Loki couldn’t get over something that was basically his fault. Something that he could have prevented. It was his fault that almost everybody died that day. Loki shook his head, trying to clear it.
“And working as a detective will help me ‘move on’?”
“Hm-mm,” Thor hummed. “It’ll be like a fresh start for you,”
“Yes, because working with somebody I already know to solve a murder will be such a fresh start,” Loki said letting the sarcasm seep through his voice. He already knew everybody that worked in Thors division.
“You don’t know the person you’ll be working with,”
Loki whipped his head around to look at Thor like he had grown a second head.
“Sorry?” Loki asked.
Thor had a self-satisfying smirk on his face, that Loki just wanted to punch off of him. Maybe he’ll do that later after they were out of the car.
“I haven’t mentioned him, and he’s not an Avenger, so you don’t know him,”
Loki rose an eyebrow. “I thought Stark and Rogers only wanted Avengers in their division,” He said, remembering a stupid meeting that he barely paid any attention to where Stark mentioned it offhandedly.
“They do, but Stephen is the special exception,”
Stephen, okay, this man’s name was Stephen. He’d have to keep that in mind for later.
“Why?”
Thor glanced at him and Loki was suddenly very glad that Thor had gotten a prosthetic eye because it would have been extremely creepy to see him glance over with one eye.
“He is good at his job, so Tony wanted him with us,” Thor sighed as he turned on his turn signal. “He does not know that we’re the Avengers though, so keep that in mind when you work with him,”
That was odd...Stark wouldn’t just want anyone on his team. So Stephen must have something special about him. Something that Tony saw. And Loki almost wanted to find out what that something was.
Almost.
“Who says I’m going to work with him?” Loki asked as Thor turned into the parking lot.
“You do, because if you did not want to at least try to work as an agent then you would have just disappeared ten minutes ago,” Thor pointed out and Loki wants to punch Thor for knowing him so well. Because nobody has that right, at all.
Loki huffed and leaned back into his seat. Thor pulled into a free parking place and turned off the car with a small click. Thor turned to look at him, putting his hand on Loki’s shoulder. Loki sneered at his hand but allowed to stay anyways.
“You’ll be good at this Loki,”
“And how do you know that?” Loki asked, even though they both knew exactly why he would be.
“You know,” Thor said with a small smile.
Loki sighed. “Fine, I’ll try to do it,” He shook his head.”But please let me be able to disappear anytime I want,”
Thor’s smile turned into a full-on grin. “Of course you can do that, just don’t use magic on anything or anyone and we will all be good,”
He frowned. “No magic? Really?”
“No magic, unless it’s absolutely necessary,” Thor pulled his arm away from Loki’s shoulder. He opened the car door.
That stupid rule really, Loki basically breathed magic. But it did make sense, he was going to be working with a Midgardian who had no idea that magic existed after all.
“Your new badge and gun are in the glove box, so come in when you are ready to,”
Loki tilted his head a bit, a small smirk playing on his lips.
“Do you actually trust me with a gun?”
“No, I really do not,” Thor said with a little twinkle of mischief playing in his eyes. “But I’d rather you have a gun than a blade,” He said knowingly.
Thor got out of the car slowly. “Welcome to your first day on the job Detective Laufeyson,” Thor said before closing the door, leaving Loki alone so that he could prepare himself for whatever hell he just got himself into.
“Human lie detector huh?” Stephen muttered into his second cup of coffee. It was good of Tony to actually give him Loki’s file. He must have learned that Stephen wanted to learn as much as he could about the people he was working with.
So far Loki’s file had been...interesting to say the least. He was a twenty-six-year-old man who had worked his way up quickly, just like he had. He was supposedly good at fighting, knew when to do something and when not to do it and was basically a human lie detector.
Looking at everything Loki was good at made it obvious why Tony wanted him. Tony only took in the best that he could after all.
The precinct was back up to its usual chattering, clearly, the only problem they had was that Stephen was getting a partner and they didn’t know how he would take it. And from what he’s overheard so far everyone thinks that he took it better than they expected.
Hell even he was surprised that he didn’t just walk out of there after hearing it.
“Stephen!”
He looked up from the file. Thor was walking towards his desk, he had his jacket folded over one arm.
Stephen smiled at Thor. Thor was always the nicest to him, even when he first got here and nobody really trusted him.
“Hey buddy, heard that you were the one bringing the new recruit here,” Stephen said, taking a sip of his coffee.
Thor nodded happily. “Yes, I am, he’s in the car right now,”
“Hm, so he really is nervous?”
Thor’s face twisted in confusion and maybe a little disgust in there. Stephen wasn’t completely sure.
“Nervous?” Thor laughed quietly. “ My brother nervous? You must kid,” Thor came to a stop in front of his desk.
Stephen choked on air. He coughed for a moment before he could say anything
“He’s your brother?” He said, setting down his coffee on his desk slowly. He should have seen it coming honestly, Loki and Thor were brothers in mythology after all.
Thor cocked his head. “Yes, did Tony not tell you?”
“All he gave me is this,” He waved the file around. “And it mentions nothing about you two being brothers, also he has a different last name than yours,” Stephen said, still trying to recover from the shock that Thor had a brother that he never mentioned.
Thor glanced up for a second then nodded. “I’ll have to talk to Tony about not telling you that, but yes he has a different last name because he’s-”
“Adopted,” A posh voice said. Stephen and Thor looked away from each other to look at whoever said that.
“I’m adopted, I decided to use my real father’s last name so I wouldn’t be compared to my brother,” Loki explained as he stopped next to Thor. Putting his hands on his hips. He looked exactly like the picture, he was even wearing the same black on black suit. The only difference was that he had his hair pulled up in a low bun. Honestly, he was getting full marks appearance wise, now he had to find out what he was like personality wise.
“I’m Loki Laufeyson and I take it your Stephen?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. Stephen gave a small smile to him.
“Yes, Stephen Strange, nice to meet you,”
“It is a pleasure to meet you too, partner,”
“Don’t call me that.”