Chapter Text
The alarm went off and Stephen Strange groaned in his bed. The groan of despair mostly due to the fact that he had to watch Christine, his deepest love, marry a man who would never be him. He flopped over in bed, also being exhausted from an extended meeting at Kamar- Taj that he had only returned from 3 hours prior. With a deep breath in and releasing a sigh, he got up.
As he showered and put on one of his best suits, he spoke a mantra to himself, "You promised you'd be there for Christine. You can do this Strange. Big smiles." But with another sigh he thought, "Who am I fooling? This is going to break me." And with that grabbed his keys and left.
He took in the ceremony hall, adorned with white and silver nuptial décor. As Stephen got settled in a free seat, he scanned the room. His sight landed on the groom, a man named Charlie, who Stephen was green with envy over. Stephen kept scanning with the nagging thoughts of "that could have been me with Chri-", and in that moment the voice in his head stopped. His eyes fell onto Y/N. Stephen hadn't recalled you from his and Christine's shared past. Maybe a new work friend or family member, but he couldn't seem to place you. You wore a beautiful burgundy floor length dress with a slit up the side, your thigh starting to show. Your hair in this beautiful side pinned do. Stephen felt like someone knocked the wind out of him and his breath hitched. He watched you politely smile at the people next to you as you started to sit. Stephen quickly caught himself before anyone else, especially you, could see him staring and quickly moved his eyes. You had just sat but felt eyes on you, almost as if something in you had clicked and drew your attention. You scanned the room yourself to see if you could find a set of eyes on you, noticing Doctor Strange. As you began to continue your scan of the room, the music had started and all attendees rose to face the door. With Canon in D rising, the doors opened and there Christine was. Stephen and you shifted his focus to Christine, as one should. She was an absolute dream to look at in all her bridal glory. As Christine walked by, she smiled at Stephen excited that he made it. He noticed after seeing him, Christine scanned the room for you. Stephen was confused by Christine's coincidence of her focus going from himself to you. Stephen tried to brush it off and enjoy the moment.
Once the ceremony started and everyone was asked to sit, you let a breath out and shook the feeling of someone looking at you as you enjoyed the ceremony. Stephen on the other hand couldn't stop from shifting his eyes between the ordained minister speaking and you. "Calm yourself Strange", as he tried to look at you without calling attention to himself. He fell into a daydream of trying to place you. Had the two of you met before? As Stephen fell into a haze the words "You may now kiss the bride", rang in Stephen's ears and he came back to reality. Clapping and cheering to fit in, tossing rice as Christine & Charlie made their way back down the aisle as husband and wife.
As attendees went from ceremony to cocktail hour before the reception, Stephen made his way to the bar. As he approached, there you were. Your smile as you spoke to other attendees was infectious. Your laugh was adorable to Stephen. To be polite and not interject himself, Stephen turns to the bar and orders himself a martini. With drink in hand, he take a quick sip of liquid courage to introduce himself to you. Before taking more than a step, Christine is in front of him with her glass of red wine.
Stephen and Christine fall into a polite chat about how beautiful the wedding was. Christine looks to Stephen with a radiant smile, "I'm just glad you could be here. It was important to me that you were." Her words cause heat to creep up his neck that he knows shouldn't affect him, but it does. Christine continues, "There's Charlie. I have to introduce you because he's kind of... It's embarrassing, but he's a big fan." Stephen chuckles and his laugh catches your attention. You melt as you see him smile. You knew Christine was close to Doctor Stephen Strange and envied her in the moment. Sure you knew of him and his looks, but seeing him in person put a twist in your stomach. As if you wanted to be near him. You shook the thought and got back to conversation with the other attendees. You can tell Christine is chatting about Charlie then you hear her say, "I think you should also meet Y/N." It was your turn to feel like the wind knocked out of you and your eyes darted to Stephen Strange. His cheek suddenly turning pink as he watched Christine look at you and wave you over, "Y/N, come meet one of my dearest friends."
You give her a hand gesture suggesting "just a moment" and politely wrap the conversation you were in the middle of and start gliding toward Christine and Stephen. Christine looking back at Stephen and seeing the pink in his cheeks lets out a quiet yet evil laughter. As if she had orchestrated this meeting, which she did. "Stephen, do you remember Y/N?" Stephen whipped his eyes off you and to Christine, "that's Y/N?! Your summer camp best friend?!" Christine giggled. "Yep, the one and only. My ride or die since age 5." Her little rhyme was precious. Stephen flipped through thoughts and stories of you Christine had shared with him many times. The time you two snuck candy bars into your tents, the time Christine had dared you to jump off a massive, dangerous and lopsided rock that was referred to as the 'mighty ugly', and so many more. You had been there for Christine and grew up together after age 5, mostly during summers. The two of you would write and call one another during the in between. The friendship you and Christine had could stand the test of all time and challenges. Stephen never placed that it was you since the last time he even saw a photo you had been hiking in Colorado on a trip. Drenched in sweat, with your hair up, backpack in and giving a thumbs up to whoever took the photo. "But that was at least 5, no 8 years ago", he thought. It didn't register that you were the same Y/N.
Snapping back to the moment, Christine begins again before you can reach them, "I thought it was time you two finally met. Two of my favorite people." She looks to Stephen and continues, "You both have more in common than you think. She's has her doctorate in Psychology. And did that massive psycho analysis study of memory. You know, the one. Y/N also has a massive library, you two should compare studies and books. And she absolutely adores *your favorite band*", that caught Stephen's attention. Sure you were gorgeous, and impressive from that memory study, but you both liked the same band? That seemed rare. Christine whispers so only Stephen can hear as you approach, "Oh, and you're both single."
Christine quickly turns to you as you arrive, opening up their intimate bubble of conversation, "Y/N my darling, I'd like for you to meet Dr. Stephen Strange." You reach out your hand and meet his eyes. He meets your eyes and your hand with his, "I've heard so much about you, Y/N. You can call me Stephen. Formalities aren't necessary." You feel a warmth from your hands as he's still holding yours. "All bad things I hope", and you let out a nervous giggle. Stephen and you both slowly release the other's hand. Christine flashes a smile seeing the two of you start to blush, knowing her plan to connect the two of you has now begun. "I'll be right back", Christine says and draws herself away. As if on queue, you and Stephen both say, "I don't think she's coming back for us." He can't stop staring at you. Your eyes have this gentle twinkle in them and he notices your slowly bat your lashes. You bat them slow in hopes of not missing a second of your time with him. Your insides are doing cartwheels and fireworks pop at your skin where his hand was.
"Y/N, it really is lovely to meet you in person", Stephen begins. You feel the universe has finally landed into place. Not a thing could ruin this moment, until something does. You hear screams outside and both whip your attention to the balcony. Stephen runs to see a Gargantos climbing the skyscraper across the way. With a sigh, he knows it's time for him to spring into action. Cloak suddenly appears as Stephen quickly finishes his martini and his outfit changes. Just like that Stephen Strange leaves your sight.
Christine sees your eyes have dropped. And you quickly curl up your lashes with your finger to distract you. You know you're about to put your smile back on and mingle. Telling yourself, "the one time I feel something and he's called away." Christine comes up and nudges you, hinting she needs to go to the bathroom but will need some help with her dress. As the two of you are alone, Christine blurts out, "I've never seen two people look at each other the way you and Stephen did." This makes you blush again, but trying to not get caught up in the moment.
Returning to the celebration of Christine & Charles matrimony you push the thoughts from your mind and enjoy the evening.
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