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Y/N felt like she’d been tip-toeing around her feelings for a certain sorcerer for ages.
She remembered when Stephen first showed up to Kamar-Taj. A quiet determination in his eyes as he quickly worked his way up to master rank in record time.
As masters they had been paired up together, being assigned various missions and tasks to complete. And the more time she spent at his side, the more she felt herself falling for him. While still quiet and determined, the man was also a confident show-off when he wanted to be.
Their lesser missions together found them keeping score of eliminating mystical threats. Most taken out, the strongest spell used, the most flare.
She loved seeing the carefree smile on his face that only seemed to come out when they were away from everyone else. She’d always sort of hoped it meant he was feeling something similar to her.
The way he’d leap in front of her out of nowhere, Vaulting Boots of Valtorr sparking as he came to a halt, his long hair he’d been growing out flopping in his face as he gave her a playful smirk and informed her he’d just beaten her score.
She loved both sides of him. The fun confident man that opened up around her, and the stoic model sorcerer he was at Kamar-Taj.
Then with the death of Ancient One and Stephen being appointed Sorcerer Supreme, everything changed.
The lightness she’d seen in him before seemed non-existent. The care-free moments gone. Hell she rarely even seen the man unless it was him rushing by as he seemingly handled ten things at once.
She’d taken over as the one delivering his morning tea for that exact reason. Even just the few minutes it took was worth it to get a glimpse of the tired smile he flashed toward her as the cup touched his desk.
Anything to get a flash of the man she knew was in there under all the seriousness and responsibility.
Every attempt to get him alone beyond those fleeting moments was to no avail. Always too busy. And the most frustrating part was he didn’t even seem to understand that it was specifically him she was trying to get to tag along. She’d long given up on asking him to join her for anything even mildly work related, since every time she seemed to be saddled with someone else he’d assign to her.
He was frustrating and dense, or deliberately avoiding what she had at least thought had been building between them.
And not knowing exactly which it was, was the exact reason she couldn’t just say it herself. If he was deliberately avoiding, she’d make it awkward as could be by announcing it.
It felt impossible.
Glass of whiskey in hand, Y/N swipes her tongue over her lip and glares down at her phone as she lounges on a bench in the courtyard listening to music.
Stupid beautiful bastard. And his pretty hair. And gorgeous eyes.
Tapping his contact she stares down at their recent messages. Rolling her eyes at how formal they sound in comparison to their previous exchanges when he was just a master.
As the music plays through her earbuds, an idea and solution to her problem finally hits her alcohol riddled brain.
Y/N: Is this gonna happen?
Stephen: Is what going to happen?
Y/N: Been waiting and waiting for you to make a move… before I make a move.
Stephen: You’re waiting for me?
Y/N: So baby come light me up, and maybe I’ll let you on it.
A little bit dangerous, but baby that’s how I want it
Stephen: …Y/N is everything alright?
Y/N: A little less conversation and a little more touch my body
Stephen: I think there needs to be a little more conversation first darling, a few texts doesn’t really explain this. Where are you?
Y/N: Cause I’m so into you, into you, into you ♥️
Stephen: Where are you?
Y/N?
Are you alright?
-
Stephen glares down at his unanswered texts, his heart hammering against his chest.
It’s not that he’d never thought about something developing between the two of them. Actually he’d spent a lot of time thinking about it. Far more time than he’d ever admit, and far more than he should.
He’d almost crossed that line in their time training and working together. But doubt held his tongue at the time, and now those times seem far simpler than now.
Now he had significantly more responsibilities. More things to do than time to do them. Lives nearly always hanging in the balance, relying on him. Whether it be field work or keeping Kamar-Taj running smoothly, his life hadn’t felt like his own to give for some time.
Opening a portal to her, he’s momentarily confused by seeing the dark courtyard on the other side. Stepping through it, he finally notices her sprawled out on a bench. Fast asleep with her phone under her cheek and a spilled glass of some sort of alcohol on the ground beneath her.
Rolling his eyes, he kneels down to gently stroke her cheek, her eyes opening and a loopy smile spreading across her face. “Steph…en…” she mumbles out before wrapping her arms around his neck.
“No, no, Y/N let’s get you up and to bed,” he insists as he tries to untangle her from his neck, but the harder he tries, the harder she holds on.
“Stay with you,” she states clinging to him.
Finally accepting the situation, he pulls her up off the bench and guides her to wrap her legs around his hips to make it easier to carry her. His own hands hold onto her thighs as she rubs her cheek against his own.
Quickly heading back toward his quarters there at Kamar-Taj, he flashes a look of warning at the few odd looks they get from other sorcerers passing through headed back to their own rooms.
Reaching his quarters, he lets them in and finally convinces her to let go of his neck to collapse across his bed with a sigh.
She stares up at him with hooded eyes as he unlaces her boots and discards them to the side. Looking at her robes, he turns to dig through his drawers to pull out one of his own t-shirts and a pair of shorts before attempting to hand them to her, “Go use the bathroom and get changed, you’re not going to sleep well in that.”
Her hands go to the fastenings on her robes before his own shoot out to stop her, “The bathroom I said!”
“Too far,” she mutters, abandoning the clothes and collapsing back on the bed.
Closing his eyes and letting out a steadied breath, he calms himself and uses a spell on her to change her clothes himself. “Now get to sleep.”
As he goes to step away from the bed, she reaches out to grab his wrist with a pout, “Stay.”
“I’ll be here, I’m just going to be at my desk over there,” he says pointing across the room.
Jutting her lower lip she pulls him closer, “No, sleep here.”
“I’m not sure that’s appropriate for tonight darling,” he says softly, reaching down to stroke her hair.
“Please? No funny business,” the pleading look on her face finally wears him down and he uses a similar spell on himself to change his own clothes before sliding into the bed beside Y/N.
She immediately wraps around him, clinging to his body and burying her face in his neck with a contented sigh, mumbling in his ear, “Love you.” Then within minutes her breathing evens out and she’s fast asleep.
Stephen however, finds himself far too awake. The smell of her shampoo, her warm breath on his neck, her arm flung across his chest, leg wrapped around his own, her words ringing in his ears; all overwhelming his senses and causing him to swallow thickly as he tries to calm his mind.
She’s drunk and she trusts him, that’s the only reason she’s here or that she texted. He keeps repeating the words over in his mind in an attempt to squash any thoughts of it meaning more.
He wanted it to mean more. Hell he’d wished many times that there could be more between them. But that’s not what this is, and it’s not what it should be.
He had a responsibility to all the sorcerers, to Kamar-Taj, the Defenders, to the universe as they knew it. His own feelings and desires were to take a back seat as he’d previously decided. Not…
His thoughts are cut short as she mumbles his name in her sleep, her hand flexing and grabbing on to the fabric of his t-shirt tightly as she snuggled impossibly closer to him.
Sighing in defeat, he wraps his arm around her and attempts to lull himself to sleep rubbing his free hand on her back. The morning was certainly going to be… interesting.
-
The first thing to hit Y/N as she regained consciousness, was the incessant pounding in her skull.
Her eyes slowly flicker open, a hiss of annoyance leaving her lips at the sunlight streaming in from the window above the bed. Shutting her eyes she turns over with a grunt.
She didn’t have a window over her bed.
Her eyes suddenly fly open to see a mess of long dark hair with strands of white beside her. Feeling a pressure on her stomach, she glances down to see an arm wrapped around her.
Looking back over at the person beside her, she knows who it is. It couldn’t be anyone else. But still…
Reaching tentatively over, she carefully moves the long strands of hair from his face, two familiar eyes blinking open as she does so.
“Mm, good morning,” he grumbles as he retracts his arm from her and stretches out in the bed. “How is your head?”
“My, uh my head?” She stammers, out as her mind races trying to figure out how she ended up in Stephen’s bed.
“You had quite a bit to drink it would seem,” he teases, giving her a small smirk before running his fingers through his hair to push it all back. “Sending me all sorts of odd messages. Found you passed out on a bench in the courtyard, then you clung to me and forced me to go to bed with you.”
“I- I didn’t, we’re dressed so… I didn’t…”
“Didn’t?” He asks with a raised brow.
“Uh… try to force myself on you?” She asks as she sinks further into the mattress hoping it will swallow her whole.
“Oh, nothing like that. You just clung onto me like a monkey. And professed your love to me,” he grins as her eyes widen.
“What?” Her eyes frantically search his face hoping it’s a joke.
Turning onto his side, he reaches out to lay his hand across hers, “I understand they were drunk ramblings, as were the texts. But… is there any truth to it?”
“I, well. Yes,” she finally admits with a deep breath. “I have for awhile. I mean, I thought we were getting there for awhile then everything happened and you sorta pushed everyone away.”
“It… has been a stressful time since the Ancient One died,” he says as his hand grips hers. “I’m still trying to figure out what I’m doing. Trying to make it look like I know what I’m doing and like I wasn’t a terrible choice for this role.”
“You were the right one,” Y/N jumps in quickly furrowing her brow. “Your power is beyond that of everyone here, your ability to learn new magic is unparalleled. You’re devoted, loyal, steadfast, knowledgable, and you just really give a damn. I honestly couldn’t have seen it being anyone other than you. It was a ripple in our ranks losing her, but you transitioned in so smoothly that we had so minimal issues structurally it’s insane. I just wish you gave yourself a moment to breathe. As amazing as this Stephen has been, I do really miss the one I knew before all this.”
“Most people would say that Stephen needed to grow up and go away to be a better Sorcerer Supreme,” he responds with a soft smile.
“Yeah well most people can shove it. You always managed to be professional and get your work done while still giving yourself time to unwind some. I personally liked the cocky man that backed me into a corner to tell me that he’d beaten my score.”
Looking at her with the fondest expression she’d ever seen on his face, he reaches out to cup her cheek and lean in to her, “I’ve missed you.”
“You don’t have to go on continuing to miss me you know,” she adds. “You could even know me a lot better.”
Leaning in until his breath plays across her lips, his eyes flicker back up to hers briefly, “I think I will have to take you up on that offer.”
“Then do it,” she whispers, her free hand going to his hip.
His lips settle on hers a moment later, firm and sure. Moving against her own with the same quiet confidence of the man himself.
His forehead presses to hers as he breaks the kiss, his eyes practically sparkling in the morning sunlight, “I could get dangerously used to this Y/N.”
“I think you’re going to have to now,” she states with a grin, shuffling her body closer to his. “I’m sort of hopelessly in deep here Stephen.”
A chuckle resonates low in his chest, his thumb stroking gently across her cheek affectionately, “So am I, I love you too Y/N.”