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The final fight, the one fight that they had to win. The one that they would win. Not only had he seen it, but he could feel it, deep in his soul, that this would be their final fight. This would be the one where they defeated Thanos for good.
But then, Thanos had started to get the upper hand, even with their formidable team, and Stephen had panicked. Tony had glanced over to him, a scared but questioning look in his eyes, and Stephen had lifted his finger, giving Tony the shove that he needed and the strength to continue fighting.
“If this works, I’m taking you for a drink.” Tony whispered, staring at Stephen with a pointed look.
Stephen chuckled and nodded, a soft smile spreading across his lips, “I’ll hold you to that.”
With that, Tony turned back to the fight, “This is it!” He yelled to Steve, “This is the one!”
“Tony!” Steve yelled back, “How can you be sure?”
“Trust me, Steve, please?” He begged. The Captain nodded and smiled, his fight increasing tenfold as he and Tony plowed through the aliens pursuing them.
Then, Carol Danvers had shown up, she’d blown the mother ship to pieces and she’d taken on Thanos alongside Steve and Tony, working as one to take him down and get the glove. But then, he’d knocked out Steve, he’d used the power stone on Carol and Tony had been the only one left.
Stephen glanced over his shoulder at the fight and he’d panicked, it wasn’t supposed to end like this; this wasn’t one of the futures that he’d seen. He dispersed the water into the air with a quick flick of his wrist and turned on his heel, running through the battlefield towards his engineer.
“And I,” Tony gritted out, bright colours spreading through his veins as his body absorbed the power of the stones, “am Iron Man.”
Stephen surged forward, hand coming to rest on Tony’s shoulder as the man clicked his fingers, the energy of the stone being shared between the two of them
“Stephen?” Tony whispered through gritted teeth, staring in amazement up at the neurosurgeon.
Stephen glanced down at him, trying to smile at him, but it came out as more of a grimace, “You owe me a drink.”
Tony laughed and nodded, “I owe you my life.”
Suddenly, the pain got less as a hand landed on his shoulder and Stephen turned his head to come face-to-face with Wong, a heavy feeling of appreciation settling in his chest. He nodded his head at his fellow sorcerer and threw him a thankful smile. Steve and Rhodey stepped up to Tony’s other side and laid their hands on Tony’s shoulder, shuddering as the power of the stones washed through them. The Captain glanced between Stephen and Rhodey and they nodded in acceptance at each other, a fragile trust settling between them for the sake of Tony.
Slowly, more Avengers joined their small circle, hands on shoulders or around waists, each of them taking a fraction of the power, making it less deadly. The entire team stood there, the energy of the stones coursing through their veins, until Thanos and his army had all been turned to dust and the stones had powered down. They collapsed, leaning against each other for support, and then the realisation that the fight was over had settled over them and someone, most likely Quill, let out a loud whoop of triumph and they all embraced each other, happy that they had suffered minimal casualties and still defeated Thanos.
It was over, they had won.
“We did it.” Tony rasped, staring up at Stephen from where he was sprawled across his lap, his head cradled in Stephen’s shaking hands.
Stephen smiled warmly and nodded, tears gathering in his eyes as he stared down at his engineer, “We all did.” He glanced around at the team, all in various stages of celebration and rest, and felt a swell of pride for them.
Stephen took a deep breath, summoning all the strength that he possessed to lean down and press his lips against Tony’s. Tony whined low in his throat and pushed back against him, hands coming to settle behind Stephen’s neck to bring him closer.
Stephen pulled away, resting his forehead against Tony’s, and chuckled when the engineer made a pitiful noise, “We have plenty of time to do that after we get healed up. We’re all pretty beat up and we need rest- it’s not every day that you have the power of six infinity stones coursing through you.”
“Thank you, for doing that.” Tony whispered, a sincere look in his eyes, adoration shining in the dark irises.
“I couldn’t let you die, you still owe me that drink.” Stephen teased, brushing Tony’s hair out of his eyes.
Tony chuckled, wincing when the action pulled at the newly-made wounds across his body, “Rest first.”
Stephen smirked in amusement and nodded, a fond look in his eyes “Rest first.”
After the team had healed and recovered from the fight, they held a party of epic proportions and Stephen finally got that drink along with the man of his dreams.