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If asked to describe Stephen Strange, the majority of the general population would perceive him as hard-faced, stoic, stern, or serious. The Avengers knew that there was a slightly softer side to the sorcerer which was reserved for their times together in the compound. He, of course, was even more open when with his husband Tony Stark and their pseudo-son Peter Parker. But there was a side to Stephen which not even his closest knew about him. A secret he kept hidden, only revealed when he was on his own, when there was no chance that someone could see him. His own personal guilty pleasure.
The obsession began while Stephen was a resident but it was not his first time learning of it. When he first arrived at medical school it seemed to be the in-thing, and everyone was talking about it. A new TV show: more specifically, some medical drama. Stephen was sceptical. After all this kind of thing wasn't really something that would normally pique his interest. Knowing it would be torture trying to watch without ripping every medical discrepancy to shreds, he decided for his own sanity to avoid watching the show like the plague. It worked....for a while. Stephen soon drowned himself in his studies and during the exam season he found little time to relax, so the show was seemingly forgotten and pushed into the farthest reaches of his mind, along with other pieces of useless information. One insignificant day near the end of his residency, while hunched over his seemingly endless pile of patient charts, which he was studying and making notes for a case study he was trying to make a start on, someone had left the TV on in the break room. Stephen left it running in the background to break the silence of the room, which had consisted only of the scribbling of his pen against paper. With a tired sigh Stephen threw down the book, his hand reaching up to rub at his eyes which were beginning to ache from the strain. He had been trying to get a head start on this since yesterday, but with complicated patients and being given every single grunt job under the sun by his attending (who he had royally pissed off with his cocky attitude), it had been a long and tedious 24 hours.
He needed a break.
With a low groan Stephen stretched himself back in the uncomfortable break room chair until his back and shoulders gave a satisfying crack. Caffeine was what this intern needed, and high doses of it. He slowly lifted himself from his chair, the papers left abandoned across the table as he made his way over to get himself an extra strong coffee. While waiting for the dark liquid to brew, his eyes glanced over towards the TV as an advert seemed to roll on the screen about some new cleaning product. Stephen was soon disinterested and turned back towards the coffee, which he poured into a rather large mug without milk or sugar. Nice and strong, just how he liked it. The young doctor wandered over towards the couch, placing his coffee onto the little table before he flopped himself onto it with a relieved sigh. A magazine discarded on the couch caught Stephen's eye. He picked it up to lazily flick through, every now and then picking up his mug to take a sip of coffee, the liquid practically touching his tired soul, giving him some life back. His eyes raised from the boring gossip magazine when the adverts on the TV seemed to come to an end, half-heartedly focusing on the soft voice of a woman who was explaining the line-up of shows for the evening ahead. It seemed that a new season of that popular medical drama was to begin that evening, and in the lead up to it this channel had been playing reruns of the last season. Stephen racked his brain for the tidbit of useless information to identify the name of the show before the woman announced it over the screen. Ah that was it...Grey's Anatomy. Stephen's nose crinkled in distaste, reaching for the remote to change the channel, but paused just as the show was about to begin. Maybe it would be useful to watch. After all, this could be a little stress reliever, a way to keep his brain active by catching the medical discrepancies and thinking through what would actually be done. It could be fun.
Initially Stephen began by picking out faults, smirking and scoffing at some of the attempts at medicine. However halfway through the episode the criticising stopped and Stephen began to focus more on the story of the show rather than the medical inaccuracies. There were multiple storylines introduced, which clearly had been long running since this show had been on TV for a while now, but Stephen was still able to keep up with the pace. The characters were endearing for the most part, and Stephen was becoming more curious about what would happen next. It seemed the main characters were to go on a trip to operate on conjoined twins, and Stephen had to admit he was curious to discover the outcome of the procedure. The screen faded to black and Stephen smiled a little as he reached for the remote to turn off the TV and get back to work. The show wasn't as bad as he expected it to be, in fact it had been a rather enjoyable way to let his mind just relax for a change. Just as he was about to hit the power button the screech of birds on the screen shocked him out of his thoughts, halting the controller as he watched the scene beginning to play out. It seemed that wasn't the end of the episode. Stephen watched, his eyes widening a little as he saw the wreckage of a plane scattered across what appeared to be a forest. The shot panned over towards the main character who was lying sprawled on her back and seemingly lifeless before the screen finally cut to black once again, the credits now rolling to signal the end of the episode.
"Wait....what?! They can't just leave it like that!"
That was the moment.
Just like that he was hooked on Grey's Anatomy.
Stephen spent the next few months after that binging the show from the very first season to catch up to most recent one. He soon found that the errors in the show didn't bother him at all as he was swept up in the drama of the show, rooting for his favourite characters and hating on the awful ones. It became his guilty pleasure which he never revealed to anyone, after all, he couldn't be one of the most famous neurosurgeons and admit that he watched a show riddled with medical errors. He managed to watch through to season ten, and was eagerly awaiting when the eleventh season would air on TV.
Everything changed one fateful night when a car accident destroyed his hands. Stephen's focus shifted to his health, on trying to fix his hands. He needed to have them working again, he was nothing without his work, and Grey's Anatomy was a disgusting reminder that he could no longer practice. During that dark time he stopped watching it, not even able to bare the thought of watching anything medical related.
A long while after that he made the journey to Kamar-Taj, discovered the Mystic Arts and became a sorcerer. As his life began to rebuild itself his guilty pleasure was abandoned for the longest of times, pushed to the back of his mind and something he never gave another thought in years. It wasn't a priority after all, and he had too much to study and learn.
When Stephen discovered the show again it was years after his accident. He was, in fact, part of the Avengers and happily married to a certain Tony Stark. Tony had gone away for the day for some meeting for Stark Industries. There wasn't much going on that needed defence from the Sorcerer Supreme and he had already drowned himself in books, so needless to say, Stephen was bored. Very bored. He decided to browse the TV channels in the hopes of finding something of worth to distract him. That's when he rediscovered Grey's Anatomy . Stephen fiddled with the library of shows which Tony had stored like some over glorified Netflix and found the drama once more. So he began watching it, starting at the very beginning and working his way through every season when no one was around to mock him for it. It felt like some dirty little secret as he snuck around to watch the show, making sure everyone was out of the compound when he did so.
It took a while, since he could only watch them whenever he got the chance but finally he managed to get up to where he had left off. Stephen had managed to watch halfway through season eleven when Tony announced he was going away for the weekend to help support Stark Industries at another branch and would be back Sunday evening. This was the perfect chance to binge watch the rest of season eleven, and the sorcerer prepared himself for the weekend by grabbing snacks.
It was Saturday evening and Stephen was in the lounge, with a bowl of popcorn on the couch beside him. It had long since been forgotten as he focused on the TV. Season eleven, episode twenty-one, 'How to save a life'. In this episode Stephen watched eagerly as the rather handsome doctor Derek Shepherd, who happened to be Stephen's favourite character in the show, helped a family who had gotten into a car accident on a rather remote road. Stephen smiled as he watched the show, thoroughly enjoying his free time and catching up with his guilty pleasure. However, when a car came out of nowhere and hit Derek, Stephen's mouth dropped to the floor, his eyes wide in shock. "W-what?!" he yelled, pulling a pillow to his chest and hugging it as the episode continued on.
Meanwhile, Tony had managed to finish his work early and was heading home to surprise Stephen so they could enjoy the rest of the weekend together. He sung along to his usual go to choice of music AC/DC as he drove the car back towards the compound, driving through the gates and up the long winding driveway. "Friday, be a dear and don't tell Gandalf I'm coming up," he instructed the AI. The billionaire parked up the car, grabbed his bag and headed up towards their family floor.
Stephen had no idea that his husband was making his way upstairs, being far too focused in his show. His eyes had a slightly red tinge and a soft sheen to them from the tears which he had spilled over the lost of his favourite character. "Meredith, it'll be okay, you have to let him go," he spoke softly to the TV, his voice breaking slightly as another fresh wave of tears threatened to fall. He was so consumed in the intensity and emotions of the episode that Stephen hadn't heard the door open from behind him. It took Tony calling out to him to register that his husband was home.
"Honey I'm home!" Tony yelled as he dropped his bag in the doorway and headed towards the lounge. Stephen yelped in surprise and shock at the voice behind him, reaching for the remote and quickly turning off the TV just as Tony walked inside. Tony paused in the doorway, leaning against the frame, his eyebrow raised at the sorcerer on his couch. "You turned off the TV rather quick there Dumbledore, what were you watching?" A smirk crept onto his face as he waited for the answer, knowing it would probably be golden.
Stephen shifted uncomfortably and blurted out the first thing that came to his mind. "P-porn! I was watching porn!" He blurted out, a fierce blush plastered on his face.
Tony's smirk widened as he walked over to the couch and sat himself on the arm of the chair as he watched Stephen with an air of smugness to him which the sorcerer both loved and hated at times. "Oh really? Porn hmm? So......why have you been crying?" Before Stephen had a chance to answer Tony leaned over to grab the remote and pointed it back at the screen, bringing it to life where it resumed its previous playthrough.
Tony blinked as he watched the screen, pausing the show as he bit his lip to hold in the bubbling laughter. "S-so...? You like.....dramas?" Tony snickered out with a face splitting grin as he nudged Stephen playfully on the shoulder.
Stephen took the pillow from his lap and whacked Tony playfully with a roll of his eyes, nearly knocking the engineer off the arm of the chair. "Oh yeah....har har, laugh it up. The neurosurgeon loves crappy medical dramas." He crossed his arms with the hint of a pout playing on his lips as he huffed back against the couch.
Tony playfully rolled his eyes at his husband’s huff and not-so-gently slid himself down the arm of the chair so he landed in Stephen's lap with a soft 'oof'. "Oh come on Stephen it's not that big of a deal. You should never feel guilty if it brings you pleasure." He grinned, pressing his cheek against Stephen's shoulder so he could watch the TV and unpaused the show. "Catch me up then Stephanie, what's going on here?"
Stephen smiled down at his husband, wrapping an arm around Tony's waist while his husband munched the abandoned popcorn. "So Meredith, the girl there, is upset because her husband has just been in a car accident and she needs to take him off life support," Stephen explained while watching as the episode seemed continued to roll.
"The guy with the tube in?" Tony questioned as Stephen let out a hum of acknowledgment. "He's cute. No wonder you cried," he teased lightly.
Stephen gasped in mock horror at Tony. "Derek is a neurosurgeon too, and he's wonderful and dreamy! He was the best thing to happen to this show and they....killed him, " Stephen huffed, resting his chin against the top of Tony's head. Tony smiled lovingly up to Stephen with a light chuckle.
"You're adorable when you get worked up," he mumbled, soft kiss placed on the sorcerers lips before turning his attention back to the show just as the next episode was about to begin, snuggling to make himself comfortable to enjoy the show with his husband.