Chapter Text
“With great power comes great responsibility”, Stephen muttered his favorite mantra to himself as he was on clean up duty of the universe once more. Stark and Fury had recently requested Stephen do some intel and what they assumed were minor repairs on some new fissures between universe's forming. Fury thought they were cause by the Scarlet Witch incident.
As Stephen huffed in fixing the minor cracks of the other universes, he thought about Christine. Last time they spoke was at her wedding and she had asked if he was happy. He had said yes to prevent her from worrying, but being alone in the basement of the Sanctum, focusing his energy and power to center him to where these ripples in the reality streams were, he could tell he was not actually happy. Quite a bit of it stemmed from loneliness. Yes, Wong was around at times but Wong was spending more time at the Kamar-Taj, and sure he now had America now living in the Sanctum. It set in, there was no one for him. No one to challenge him, no one to return his banter, no one to come home to that wasn’t a child, no one for him. He sighed, trying to shake the feeling and continue his work of repair of the breakage, doing his best spellwork to close, seal and protect them from re-opening.
It felt like hours as he was going around to each crack, one by one. “How many of these are there?” he asked himself, with another heavy sigh. He hadn’t realized how much damage our witch had truly caused. Luckily, they all seemed small so far with minimal aspects seeping into the current realm. He then came across a larger opening, he could tell it had been seeping into his universe, there was a slight waterfall of ethereal slime. He documented it to share with Stark and Fury, and observed the world through the fissure for a moment. It was important he understood what to be on the lookout for if he needed to remedy anything in his world. As Stephen watched, making mental notes (photographic memory and all), he saw you. Your hair shiny, smile brilliant, you carried yourself well. You had this energy around you that was mature yet playful. He couldn’t bear to look away as he watched you in that universe go about your life. You seemed happy, he could view and hear some of your quick quips as you joked with others. Stephen laughed to himself. You weren’t just totally gorgeous in his eyes, you were also funny and a smartass, which of course he thought was adorable. His phone rang, ripping him from his observations of you. Stephen groaned, it was this obnoxious ringtone that America had put on his phone so he’d actually answer just to make it stop. When he answered, it was Thor. His voice boomed like thunder, “Strange. Stark and Fury are asking about you. Any updates?” With the phone between his ear and shoulder, “Yes, I’m finishing the last one now and will be there in an hour”, he said as he unwillingly sealed up the crack where he could watch you. With the phone call still in process, Stephen could hear Tony in the background, “Tell Merlin to hurry up. We’re ordering lunch. If he isn’t here, I’m giving his meal to you, Thunderbolt.” Thor continued, “I’m guessing you heard all that.” Stephen pinched the bridge of his nose, “yes, I heard him. I will be there soon.” And then Stephen disconnected the call. The thought of you disappearing hurt, but why did it hurt? He didn’t know you. He wasn’t sure of your existence in his universe.
Arriving at Avengers’ Tower, Stephen took the elevator with his report in hand. He felt ready to explain and ease concern over the openings of the other universes. Once the doors opened, it looked like a madhouse. “Where is my side of rice Stark?!” You looked and saw Barton asking as he was going through everyone’s meal. Tony quickly snapped back, “If you ordered it, it’s in there Arrow. Or do I need baby widow to come do it all for you?” “I am not ‘baby’ widow”, Yelena chimed in. Stephen watched her turn back to her conversation with someone he hadn’t seen before. But instead of paying attention to this mystery person, Fury grabbed his attention. “STRANGE”, with Fury’s boisterous voice, “where the hell have you been?” Stephen’s attention was now turned as he followed Fury and Stark into a larger presentation room to review what was found before sharing it with the rest of the group.
Closing the door to let the remaining childish avengers finish their meals, Stephen turned to the other men. “Bad news, there were more cracks than we initially anticipated”, Stark lifted his eyebrow waiting for Stephen to continue. “Good news, they are all sealed with minimal damage. I have provided Wong and the other master with what they will need to be on the look out for if there was any seeping into our universe.” Fury huffed, “Seeping?” Tony chimed in, “Yeah, I’m going to need you to explain wizard.” Stephen sighed knowing it was pointless to correct Tony for the millionth time that he was a Sorcerer and not a ‘wizard’. With hesitance, he started slowly, “There was one sliced larger than I had hoped. I was able to see the ethereal type of goo dripping over into ours.” Pausing to think about how much he should share, “I observed the universe and it seemed normal, nothing crazy like flowers for hands or fish for feet.” Tony and Stark looked at each other then back to Stephen. “So, we should be good Magic Man?” Tony asks to confirm. “Yes”, Stephen proceeds, “that’s why I made Wong and others aware of this too and what to look for if we need to make any adjustments or seal anything else.” Fury gave the closest thing to a smile, “Great. And you’ll share that with the rest of the Avengers too! They need to be made aware of this to keep us all safe.” Tony nodded in agreement and the meeting of the three was dismissed.
When Stephen returned to the main room, the Avengers went from being all over one another in an almost food fight to being scattered throughout the room as if they had all hit a food coma at the same time. Stephen looked around for this mystery person, but only saw familiar faces. He strolled up to Yelena doing his best to act casual. Once having her attention he asked, “who were you talking to?” Yelena looked around before responding, “Are you okay Strange? I’m not talking to anyone except you.” Stephen shook his head, “no, I meant earlier when I arrived. There was someone here I hadn’t seen before. Looked like you were talking to them?” Yelena raised her eyebrow and then it clicked whom he meant, “Oh, you mean Y/N.” “Y/N”, Stephen thought to himself. Something about the name sounded like heaven. Stephen returning his attention to Yelena, “yes, I guess that is who I mean.” Yelena made an unsure face at him, squinting her eyes in curiosity of him asking and proceeded, “well, she is the newest to the avengers team. She comes from being a widow. Y/N was like another sister to Nat and myself. I thought I lost her in the blip too, but she turned up a few months back looking for me.” She paused trying to read what Stephen was thinking, “Y/N was instantly welcomed by Tony, after going through an interrogation of questions.” As Yelena was about to share more with him Thor’s voice came over, “Stark and Fury are ready for us. Let’s move into the larger room.” Thor turned his attention to Yelena and asked, “where did Lady Y/N go?” Yelena raised her hand “I guess I will go get her. Always the god damn babysitter.” Her tone was harsh, but Yelena meant it in the most loving way. She was happy to have you back with her.
As everyone gathered into the larger room to settle down, Stephen took his place at the front of the room, it would be his presentation after all. Bruce was talking to Tony about the next party coming up, how he hoped to invite his cousin Jen to the next one. Thor was talking to Bucky & Sam about the Asgardian Ale he was getting imported for his birthday. Then the conversation stopped as all of them heard giggling come in the room. It was Yelena and Y/N, the two girls were joking around as they walked in. Stephen turned his attention, his jaw slightly dropped and staring at you. “It can’t be”, he thought to himself. There was a variant of you in his universe and his heart raced. Once they noticed all eyes were on them, Y/N spoke, “sorry, we didn’t mean to interrupt.” You and Yelena quickly took your seats trying to hold in the remaining of your giggles. Your voice, your laugh- it was comforting to Stephen. He didn’t realize he was still fixated on you, until Fury coughed. “Ready when you are doc.” Snapping Stephen out of his daydream, he began presenting his findings. Yelena had caught onto Stephen’s staring of Y/N, she was putting the pieces together between the way he kept looking at you and his weird questioning of who you were earlier. Yelena bumps your shoulder and you turn to look at her, trying to discreetly mouth “what?” and quickly look back to the presentation. Yelena leans over and whispers, “I think Strange has a thing for you.” You were caught off guard, “What?!” and the entire room turned to your attention. Bucky raised his eyebrow at you, “something you want to share with the rest of us, Y/N?” You awkwardly cough trying to find an excuse, you can’t manage to get words out. Yelena chimes in, “Oh, our bad. Y/N just found out her favorite ice cream place has closed.” Yelena always had your back. With a laugh and playful tone Sam looked to you, “Yeah, I’d be focused on that too.” Stark groaned and called to everyone’s attention, “are we all done looking at Y/N? Can we proceed?” Tony looked back to Stephen to keep the presentation going. Stephen met your eyes but you looked away and started blushing, catching that Yelena saw it too. He focused back on the screen, “yes, as I was saying.” Stephen finished his presentation and the avenger children were dismissed to continue their day. Stephen packed up but watched you and Yelena leave out of the corner of his eye. Tony approached Stephen, “hey, I am hosting an Avengers Gala Friday night. I know you're not into parties and people and fun, but you should come. Bring your new child too. I’m sure she’d have fun.” Stephen studied Tony for a moment, “well AMERICA”, emphasizing her name, “is only 14. I don’t think she’d have fun at a Gala. Besides, I believe she is having a sleepover with her friend Hannah.” Tony nodded, “have it your way Houdini, but I’d still like you there. Even without the Avengers title, you contribute to the team.” Tony pauses, looking around then leaning in to make sure no one else hears, “and Y/N will be there. We all saw the way you looked at her.” With that Tony quickly left before Stephen could protest.
Stephen was getting ready to leave to Avengers’ Tower, it was time for him to get home before America returned from school. Hitting the elevator button, he had falling deep into thought, “I wasn’t even looking at her that long”, trying to rationalize what happened, “I just didn’t think I’d see her he-.” He was jerked out of his thoughts as he heard your voice. You were making smart ass comments to Bucky to keep up with his sass and Sam was backing you up, “yeah Bucks, don’t be such a stick in the mud.” Stephen watched you stick your tongue out at Bucky, it wasn’t as childish as he would have normally seen it, but rather adorable. The elevator dinged, Stephen stepped in and went home.
Arriving moments before America, Stephen filed away his findings. He was still lost in his thoughts thinking of you. America leaned into Stephen’ study, “hey, did you hear me?” He was startled and turned to her, “I’m sorry, I didn’t. What’s up kid?” She lets out a breath, “I said, I was planning to stay at Hannah’s Friday night if that’s okay with you.” Stephen nodded and waved her off, “yes yes. That’s fine.” America could sense something else in him, and integrated him further, “Why are you acting weird? Are you doing something Friday?” He turned to the teen, “I was actually planning to go to a party that Stark is hosting”, he breathed, waiting for her to beg to go. “Oh, that’s fun. But why are you suddenly wanting to go? You don’t like parties, or people, or fun” she poked at him. Stephen scoffed, “I do too! I like fun and I am fun.” “Okay”, she said in a sing-song voice, “I think there’s something else.” She began to study his face then shrugged, “I thought maybe you actually had a date.” Now Stephen’s jaw was slightly opened, “I’ve had dates!” “Yeah, in the 1900’s”, she poked at him laughing. “Alright, get out of here. Go do homework while I start dinner”, and he shoo’d her from the study. “Fine cranky pants, I just want you happy”, she huffed away. “Happy”, Stephen thought to himself, when was the last time he was really happy?
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Friday had finally arrived. America had called Stephen, “Just wanted to let you know I’m at Hannah’s safe. Have a good time Stephen.” She was rooting for him to have some fun, “I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon. And I expect to hear all the details.” From the tone of her voice, Stephen knew she had this devilish grin and wouldn’t leave him be once she got back.
Stephen faced himself in the mirror, cleaning up the stubble that didn’t fit in with his established goatee. He had showered and picked out a slick black suit knowing Tony’s parties were usually black tie. It was finally time to go.
Stephen arrived about 15 minutes into the party. When he stepped out of the elevator and into the ballroom, you would have thought they were hours in. A sea of people, all chatting and enjoying champagne and immaculate hors d'oeuvres. It reminded him of all the hospital fundraiser events he had once attended. The Avengers scattered throughout the room, accompanied by other important figures. Stephen scanned the room, he spotted you at the bar with Yelena. Your smile was radiant, clearly laughing and having a fine time with your preferred drink in hand. You wore a blush dress with these off the shoulder sleeves, it had a tasteful slit up to your thigh. It complimented Yelena’s matching gray dress. Both yours and Yelena’s hair in this braided crown with cascading curls. As Stephen set his sights on coming to talk to you, as he took a step forward, Tony blocked him. “Dr. Stephen Strange,” this caught Stephen’s attention because usually Tony would have used one of his ridiculous nicknames. Stephen looked to Tony as he continued, “This is Dr. Arnold Chamberlain, the newest and brightest for spinal surgery at Metro- General Hospital.” Stephen had known of Dr. Chamberlain, read quite a bit of his studies. Extending his hand, “Dr Chamberlain, it’s a pleasure.” Tony slipped away to run into another influential person and chat them up. The two doctors fell into deep conversation about their top surgeries performed, Stephen staring at his hands knowing he was broken in his own way, knowing more surgeries would only hurt. He was feeling nostalgia, a ‘what if’ type of feeling. He tried leaving those thoughts behind, but they linger. As the two men ended their conversation and politely split, he started looking for you again.
He spotted you along the wall, Yelena was dancing with the Mayor’s eldest son leaving you to fend for yourself. As he focused, he saw some guy was leaning against the wall almost pinning you to it. You were clearly uncomfortable. As Stephen weaved through the crowd to get closer, he could see your face, you were doing your best to be polite. You could handle yourself, heck, you were a widow. But this party was important to Tony. To you, there was always a time and a place, this was not the place for you to make a scene. When Stephen was finally within earshot, he could hear the guy say to you, “I’ve never seen you before”, waggling his eyebrows at you, “A pretty thing like you and a stud like me. Don’t you want to dance with me?” Stephen caught that your face twisted at the word “stud.” You had opened your mouth to decline the pushy buffoon’s offer, when Stephen wrapped his arm around your waist and pulled you to him. You were up against Stephen's chest, your hands pressing his pecs and looking up to meet his cerulean eyes. In that moment you were so close to him, you could smell his cologne, you tried not to let it entice you. “There you are darling”, he said as he kissed your forehead, “ I was worried you found someone else.” If you weren't already blushing, you certainly were by now, a heat in your cheeks rose to a fiery temperature. Stephen glared at the guy who was clearly inebriated ‘stud’, who was getting frustrated by your sudden lack of vulnerability. You look at Stephen and smirk, catching on, “Oh babe! I was looking for you, I was waiting so we could dance.” “Then shall we?”, he asked and led you to the dance floor. “Toodles”, you waved to the drunken toddler of a man who was now furious that he couldn’t trap you.
Stephen took one of your hands in his and wrapped the other around your waist, trying to be respectful and leaving some space. You felt his hands shake, looking at him, you gave his hands a gentle squeeze. You liked the way his hands looked, like they had stories to tell from all the scars. You could sense he was nervous that you were focused on his hands. “I rather like them”, you had said in a low whisper and Stephen heard it. He began guiding you through the dance. As you started to twirl on the dancefloor, he leaned to your ear, “I’m sorry if I read that wro-” You had cut him off, “Thank you. I needed saving for once. I wasn’t sure how to do it without breaking his nose or his kneecaps”, you flatly said and Stephen smiled knowing full well you would have done either without batting an eye. He liked that you were a spitfire, “Only problem is I don’t think we’ve been introduced. I’m Ste-” You cut him off again, “I know who you are, Dr. Strange.” He met your eyes, a little confused by your formality. “I’m Y/N. It’s nice to finally meet you”, she bit her lip, “apparently we are dating.” He choked for a moment, “I’m sorry?!” You laughed, “well you did just call me ‘darling’ and told drunks magoo back there that you were worried ‘I was with someone else’, you know, to quote you.” You smirked looking at him and Stephen’s breath hitched. You could sense he was stressed and back peddled, “Oh, I’m sorry Dr. Strange. I was kidding, I thought it was fun-.” “Please call me Stephen”, he was quick to respond. Heat ran up your neck, flushing your cheeks in a dazzling blush. A wave of comfort washed over you, it was odd to feel protected for once on terms that weren’t your own and you went with it. You leaned in closer and placed your head against Stephen’s shoulder. He held you a little tighter and you both fell into a dreamy haze as you waltz through a few more dances. You had hoped it wouldn’t end, but after three dances that felt like mere seconds, Stephen had broken the haze, “Should we get a drink?” You paused and slowly broke from your comforted mold of his chest. His eyes were ready to meet yours. They felt intense, his pupils dilated a little more than they should have been. With blue galaxy pools surround them. You felt your breath hitch at the idea that he could have been looking at anyone in this moment, and he was fixated on you. Your eyes were equally mesmerizing, they twinkled like stars. Stephen studied them as quickly in the few moments of silence, another memory he was planning to return to later. You nodded and he escorted you to the bar.
With drinks in hand you both fell into a comfortable chatter. The two of you found space on one of the many balconies and settled onto a plush cushion bench. He started sharing about his days at Metro-General, as he regaled into a more serious story and mid sentence had stopped, turning his gaze to his hands once again, they lightly shook. You picked up on the sudden anxiety and jumped in to pull him from his own thoughts, “I rather like them.” You reached out to place your hand on top of his, “I think they show the battles and trauma you’ve had to overcome.” Leaning into him as you start moving the top of your dress down slightly. Stephen’s face was on fire, his eyes focused on your skin, he followed your movement with his eyes and then landed on a thick scar above your breast. You turn your arm outward, showing the inner area of your arm to see another thick scar. “See these?” His attention isn’t anywhere else. “These are scars I obtained while being a widow. The one from my arm is where the tracking chips used to be embedded. The one on my chest”, Stephen felt his hands get clammy as you continued, “that’s from a widow experiment. I have so many more scattered.” Your voice fell, “I was one of the 30 who survived that trial experiment.” Tears start to prick your eyes and you look down. Stephen tips your chin, this hitches your breath again, his words are clear as day, “I rather like them.” You could feel yourself leaning upward to close any distance between you too.
“Y/N!” Yelena’s voice rings out, snapping both you and Stephen to turn to her. “Y/N, I’ve been looking for you.” Stephen pulls away to give you space so you can depart with Yelena, you feel a sadness as he slips away from you. Clearing his throat he stands and offers you a hand up, “I uhh should be going. Y/N, it was a pleasure. I’m sure I will see you around.” You are stunned, in a haze. What just happened to this hazy dream state you were both in? You don’t fault Yelena, I don’t think she noticed because she was in a hazy high of her own. Large galas at Avengers Tower just had that energy, that effect on attendees. You and Yelena watched as Stephen made his way around the corner and out of your site. “Whoa. Y/N, what was that?” Bringing your attention to her, “What was what?” Yelena gave you a look, “You and Doctor Strange, what did I interrupt?” “Nothing”, being quick to respond, “he had saved me earlier from some creep.” Yelena watched as pink painted itself on your cheeks. “What was it you needed Yelena? Is Stark going to try and make us clean up again?” Yelena sighed, “Yeah, Tony wants us to help clean up the bar and make sure any drunks are taxi’d home.” Linking arms, you and Yelena make your way back to the massive ballroom, both joking about all the prior parties and disaster highlights that made you laugh. Yelena knew she’d bother you about your adventure with Strange in the morning, but for now it was cleaning, giggles, and tipsy bedtimes.
__Thank you for reading, all feedback is appreciated. I have a second chapter of this so far, but would be happy to write more__