Chapter Text
Stephen swooped down to the ground, avoiding a shot from his target. He was sick of those aliens thinking they could sneak around his universe. Ever since Kaecilius had broken the Sanctums and killed their Masters, the barrier around Earth had weakened, even after Dormammu had been dealt with and reparations were made. It would take time before the rifts between the different dimensions and universes were completely repaired.
His Cloak took him closer to the offender but before he could immobilise it, blast it or downright kill it because they'd been causing massive headaches as of last, a net crashed against his target and made it fall to the ground and shocking it. He knew there was a possibility it could free itself so he snapped his own magical rope to ensure the alien wouldn't move.
Stephen knew where the net came from, so he wasn't surprised at seeing Iron Man land next to him just seconds after he dug his heels in the alien's back.
"Friend of yours?"
"Pain in the Ass number 258..." Stephen sneered, looking murderous.
The Cloak ruffled around his shoulders in indignation. The nerve of those aliens, causing distress to its master.
Stephen didn't stay long. Sending the alien back to his universe with a vicious swirl of magic, he left through one of his portals, without another word to Stark since he didn't think he'd be able to deal with the billionaire without being uncourteous. So to avoid bruised egos, he went back to the Sanctum. He took a rest as soon as he was back in his rooms, hoping his headache would be gone once he'd wake up.
Tony didn't know what to make of Doctor Stephen Strange. He had met the wizard a month ago, while dealing with a band of robbers, but had recognized him from one or two galas he had gone to when the man had still been a neurosurgeon. Even then he felt there was something magical about him, even if the thought of actual magic existing never entered his mind until he met Loki. After Strange's accident, he had scoured the internet after information about him but not able to follow him once past the airport in Kathmandu.
Tony had also learned that Stephen Strange never existed prior to mid-1998. He never found a trace of the man before that, no school records, no hospital records either. As if he had just appeared out of thin air. He had forgotten about that for a while but their meeting during a fight had brought it back to the surface. FRIDAY had also reminded it to him, per his request.
His interest piqued, Tony had vowed to himself to approach the wizard sooner rather than later now that he could actually find him.
Tony decided to approach Strange a few days later. With Friday's help, he had managed to track him down to Bleecker Street, as the man had been caught by CCTV cameras in regular clothes going inside a local restaurant for lunch every now and then. It hadn't been a high-end restaurant, rather a nepalese shop manned by an elderly couple, and Strange often went back home holding a container, even after he stopped to actually have lunch there.
So here was Tony, in front of number 117a, wondering how he could have an actual conversation with the man and maybe bring up the problem he had with magic users who think minds are windmills and can be entered without a knock.
Tony climbed the steps to the heavy door of the house. He had an odd feeling, standing there, and it only grew when, as he raised his fist to knock, the door opened on its own on an empty room with a grand staircase leading upstairs. He stepped in carefully, looking around to see if he could spot the man he came to see.
"Strange? You in there?" Tony called out, hoping he wouldn't have to go out of his way to find him.
"Over here..." he heard, coming from the couch he could see in a room next to the stairs.
Tony noticed immediately how the words were too soft for coming from a healthy wizard. Now that he thought about it, when he saw Strange the week before, the man had looked exhausted. Dealing with invaders day in, day out would tire anyone, he mused, but apparently, it was worse than just a heavy workload. He knew the feeling, but himself had never sounded so... listless after spending days not sleeping.
He moved to the other room and stopped just past the door. On the couch was lying... someone covered with Strange's red cape. A lazy hand raised and Tony was close enough to see the scars running over the back and the fingers.
"Have you found a Fountain of Rejuvenation, Strange?"
The body shifted to its side and heaved a sigh. The cape left the couch to approach Tony and its collar shook from side to side, as if to tell him 'no'. It reached for Tony's arm and tugged him closer to the couch. Strange was watching him with glazed green eyes, his hand reaching out to him, a pair of glasses sliding down his nose. He didnt bother to push them back up. The cape had darted to a corner but was quickly back with a chair for him, and Tony gave it a nod in thanks before taking a seat.
A trembling hand reached out to his knee and gripped it weakly.
"If not a Fountain, then why do you look like this?"
"There was... I was doing my fucking job in another universe... and Pain In The Ass number 276 thought it'd be funny..." Strange stopped. He shifted more and pushed himself in a sitting position so that he could look at Tony's face rather than his knees. "She'd thought it'd be funny to try and siphon my magic."
Strange took another deep and slow breath. "Since I don't have enough to sustain it, the heavy glamour I even forgot I've been wearing for decades shattered... and I'm stuck like this, waiting for my magic to come back."
Strange lifted his head just a bit, slouching on the couch, though the cape pushed him upright when he nearly fell.
"Why are you here, anyway?"
"I wanted to know if you had means to protect minds from magical manipulation."
Strange's eyes hardened at that. "Who did it?!" he snarled. He struggled to get up but the cape moved to Strange's shoulders and lifted him. Tony had stood up in shock at the sudden outburst, but the shock became more pronounced at the small stature of the man in front of him. Never had he imagined he'd have to look down when talking to Strange but the man was shorter than he was, roughly 140cm, stick thin and paler than a ghost. His hair was still stylized the same way, maybe more mussed, but it was an odd look for someone who looked like a teen.
Hands gripped his arms and Tony focused back on the situation.
"No, don't tell me. I'm going to lose it if I hear about her again. The Sanctum might not support it..." Strange whispered as he fell forward against Tony. The cape tugged him backwards to make him fall back on the couch. Concern ate at Tony who sat next to him.
"You should get some rest, Strange. My problem can wait a few more days..."
"I was getting rest until you came here... And you have a problem you urgently need my help with..."
"Well, I don't think its going to get worse if I wait, you know..."
"It could... Some spells anchor themselves in your mind and fester..."
Tony shuddered at the thought. But Strange's health mattered more for now, and he told the man so. Strange made an odd noise in the back of his throat at that and looked at him bewildered, his eyes becoming wet.
"What?"
"No... it's... been a while... since I heard those words..."
How long was a while anyway? He wondered. Strange shifted on the couch, and fell against his arm.
"I'd say... two decades..." the sorcerer answered, as if he had read his mind. It wasn't a nice thought. "Sorry, your mind is just really loud... I don't do it on purpose."
"Never mind that. Two decades? Really? The last time someone told you your health was important was twenty years ago?"
"Yes... At Kamar-Taj, they don't really know me... Wong just reprimand me because I portal in his library, and I think he tries to communicate with me without words... I don't think it's working... Christine never bothered because she worked just as hard, if not more than me..." Strange rubbed his cheek against Tony's arm and drew his legs close to his chest. "Severus was the only one who cared..." his voice was soft, and Tony could hear the melancholic tone it was said with. There was a sniffle, the body against his started to tremble. Was Strange crying?
"I want him back...!" Yep, he was sobbing. "He's dead because of me!"
A listless Strange was an oddly open and emotional Strange. How could that even be possible? You'd think one prevented the other. Tony held back a sigh. He wasn't good at comforting others. Especially if the subject was a dead... boyfriend, if the amount of tears shed was held into account. He passed an arm around Strange's shoulder and squeezed him closer to his side. A trembling hand gripped at his shirt, or tried to, and slim legs were laid across his lap.
Tony shouldn't be the one here, he was a stranger. Strange should be with his friends. He felt cloth patting his hand where it was on Strange's arm. The cape was offering comfort to its owner. That was a bit sad. Strange didn't say more while he was crying, but Tony got the feeling if he had it would have been more guilt about getting Severus killed. Briefly he wondered what his life had been like before.
The sobs dwindled down to muffled sniffles after a moment.
"Feel better?"
"No. Crying gives me headaches..."
Strange made a gesture with a hand, toward the coffee table, and a tea service appeared with a soft clank. He raised the same hand to clean his eyes of tears, and push back his glasses up his nose. The cape tugged itself off Strange to fetch one of the cup and gave it to its master before fetching the only mug for Tony. He could smell the coffee from there.
Strange sipped at his tea, holding the cup with two hands in hope he wouldn't spill it over them both.
"What kind of... guy was he... Severus?" Tony nearly cursed himself for launching a conversation like this.
"Severus was older than me... He was one of my professors at school... I had a crush on him ever since I was thirteen."
"How does one fall in love with his teacher?"
"Well... he protected me from a werewolf..." Strange sighed as he clearly remembered that meeting. "I thought he hated me, but Severus has always been protecting me... That evening... Well, it was the full moon, and I'd gone after the man I thought had been responsible for my parents' death... Turns out he was an idiot who thought his godson's health mattered less than the real culprit..." he grumbled as he burrowed closer to Tony, slightly shivering. "Stuff happened... Severus arrived with my godfather's friend... words were exchanged. I might have attacked Severus, I wanted answers. I was an idiot back then... When my godfather's friend started to shift into a werewolf, Severus gathered me and my friends behind his back."
The cup was put back on the coffee table, levitating to its saucer.
"He told me, years after, that he had been terrified facing the werewolf. When they were at school... my godfather sent him into a trap, and he was nearly eaten by my godfather's friend. My father saved him though."
"Did you manage to confess to him?"
"Yes." It was a happy word, whispered but still clearly spoken. "In my fifth year. I was fifteen. On his birthday, Januray the ninth. Not that I knew that when I came to him. He told me it was the best present he could have received before he kissed me."
"And... When did he..."
"May 2nd, of 1998. He was thirty-eight, I wasn't eighteen yet... I saw him breath his last..."
Tony didn't know what to say to that. He sipped at his coffee that was miraculously still warm.
"We were going to get married..."
Strange caressed his left-hand ring finger. Tony saw the air ripple around the spot and was surprised at the appearance of what clearly was an engagement ring.
"I thought your... magic levels were down..."
"I placed a Fidelius charm around the ring, or rather, around the fact that we were going to marry one day and that includes this ring. It hides everything related to our decision from everyone and everything, except the people the Secret Keeper, which is me, made aware of it."
"That's... kinda neat."
Strange nodded. He shifted on the couch, getting off of Tony's lap and sliding away from him before standing shakily. The cape came to his shoulders to help him stay standing.
"I need to rest... You should come back another day."
Tony's mind was filled with Strange over the next days. He knew it wasn't right to think about it, but Strange's body had had an odd effect on him. If you overlooked the fact that Strange was nearing his forties, he could be mistaken for a teenager, or worse, a child still, as 1m40 was rather short for a teenager over 15. His eyes were an enticing green, the color vibrant to bleed through that "glamour" Strange had spoken about, now that he thought about it. And feeling this frail body pressed against his own while the other man was sobbing his heart out...
Tony felt like a downright pervert thinking about the distressed man. Damn those legs. Damn those round buttcheeks that he could still feel against his lap...
He hoped Strange felt better. He needed to speak to him about Wanda's magic, but if the man was still emotional like he had been the other day, he'd never get the memories of him out of his mind.
His distress over the situation wasn't resolved by cooping himself in his lab to tinker with his armor or any other project he had plans for.
"Boss, your heart rate is slightly elevated," FRIDAY' voice startled Tony out of his thoughts. "Furthermore, you appear to be breathing heavily. Should I call Miss Potts?"
"No need to worry, Fri. I was just lost in thoughts."
"Anything I can help with?"
"Unfortunately not. It's between me, my deranged brain, and Doctor Stephen Strange..."
"There were interferences when you entered the Sanctum, so I couldn't get a clear visual of the Doctor..."
"The footage from the glasses should be clear..." because Tony had wanted to record Strange's magic.
He connected the glasses to his network. Pictures started to appear on his screens. That was it, he was doomed. Strange's cuteness was forever burned in his mind now.
"Is it really the Doctor?"
"Yes. Apparently, he was wearing some sort of, I don't know... a magical cloaking that made him appear... older."
"I detected nothing of the sort..." she seemed as perplexed as Tony felt about this tidbit of information.
"Well, we still didn't come up with a way to detect magic like this... And I didn't get to ask about it... But since no one ever knew they were around, they must have the means to hide it really well."
Tony sighed. He needed to meet with him again.
He waited another day before deciding to go back to the Sanctum. Just like before, the door opened on its own, but this time, there was no listless Strange to greet him. The man was on his sofa, still, but surrounded by piles of books this time. Books were floating around him, pages turned without him needing to do it by hand. What surprised the most was the fact he was still short.
"I see you're feeling better. If a bit short."
"I decided not to reapply the glamour. It had been an act of desperation twenty years ago, I don't think I can do it again. Well, I can, but I shouldn't... Living in the past will only make me more depressed than I realized I was." He sighed. "That, and I don't want to leave a trace for others to realize I'm still alive..."
So, 'Stephen Strange' had, what, ran away? But how did he managed to create this identity without anyone noticing something?
"Won't people look at you weirdly... when you show up like this and they're expecting something else?"
"People at Kamar-Taj don't. The first time I was punched out of my body, most were surprised to see the midget I was. I know I was."
"You forgot what you looked like?"
The floating books all came to rest on the coffee table and Strange patted the couch in invitation. Tony sat next to him, and once again was aware of the man's shortness when he looked up.
"Wong and I managed to find some way to help with your problem." Tony hadn't expected to be ignored. "It might require that I enter your mind for me to block her influence if it is still there, and also erect some manner of barrier to prevent it from happening again..."
"You... Do you have to? I mean, isn't there another way...?"
"It's the most efficient..." Strange frowned, "If you are afraid I'm going to mess with your mind, then be assured that it's not what I will be doing. I just have to identify the foreign magic lurking around your head and seal it away..."
"I still remember you saying that my mind was so loud you couldn't not hear it last time I came around."
"I was in a bad state then. I think I heard the passerbies, but I focused on you because it was driving me mad."
Tony looked at Strange, who resumed his reading, waiting for his answer. The offer was tempting though he was reluctant of letting someone in his mind. He let his eyes roam over the other man's body. He was clad more formally than the last time he had seen him, in his blue robes, complete with multiples belts.
His hands were gloveless, but Tony's eyes didn't stop to stare long. No, once again, he was captivated by the lean body sat next to him. He wondered, what did he look like under all this clothing? Judging by his apparent age, it couldn't be much, which pre-teen had defined muscles like an adult's?
Tony looked around the room, shaking his thoughts of Strange' body off his mind. The room was big, bigger than it should be at least, considering the way the building was built. Magic seemed to be awfully convenient sometimes. What else could it do?
"Everything you can imagine..." Tony jumped at the wizard' voice. "You asked out loud. Reading other people's thoughts is bad manners."
"Everything? Really?"
"There's a community of... wizards", Tony raised an eyebrow at the venom contained in that word, maybe be should temper his own use of it around him, "in Britain, for example, where they have spells for everything and beyond. To the point they get lazy. Some don't even know the definition of 'physical education'. And with potions, you can heal in a jiffy. A broken arm? Easy, a night in the infirmary feeling your bones grow and you're good to go. One of teacher vanished all the bones in my right arm... They're savage compared to us, sorcerers at Kamar-Taj."
"What about... reading minds...?"
"Only the most powerful witches and wizards can use Legilimency and Occlumency. You can even erase memories with a simple spell... though if you mess up, you fuck the target's mind completely..."
It wasn't reassuring. At all.
Strange looked up, and Tony was lost. No almost-forty years old had the right to be this cute without being aware of it. He found himself nodding.
"Let's do it, then."