Work Text:
The Cloak of Levitation had chosen Stephen Strange.
But unknown to many, Sherlock Holmes’ Belstaff had chosen him as well.
Sherlock and Stephen’s meeting had been awkward, naturally, but sometimes you just have a doppelganger and that's that.
But what had made Tony Stark and John Watson laugh even harder was that the Cloak had leapt from Stephen’s shoulders to latch on to Sherlock’s Belstaff, who had perked up and had attempted to turn around in the Cloak’s grasp (the attempt had been futile with Sherlock’s arms in the way, but it was not for a lack of trying).
And that was the beginning of a great relationship.
Strangely enough, Sherlock and Stephen actually became friends. John was shocked that Sherlock had made a friend of his own volition, to which Sherlock responded "Really, John? I'm not an idiot. I can make friends if I want to." John was skeptical.
Of course, they wouldn’t have become friends if not for The Cloak and The Belstaff. Both were tied to their ‘owners,’ so they spent most of their time on opposite sides of the world, pining away.
The Belstaff sulked and batted at Sherlock whenever he tried to put the coat on.
The Cloak followed Stephen around like a lost puppy, trying to get him to portal them to London. Eventually, Stephen would get tired of it, open a portal to 221b, and watch the Cloak excitedly zoom through it.
John once managed to catch the two pieces of outerwear's’ reunion on video once when he had been filming Rosie on his camera phone.
And no one thought the whole business was funnier than Peter Parker and Harley Keener. They spent a lot of their time with Stephen and Tony and spent a lot of that time trying to catch the Cloak and the Belstaff ‘in the act,’ as it were. Being teenage boys, they were very interested in finding out how two pieces of fabric could do the dirty deed.
Stephen suggested that perhaps they were in an asexual relationship. Harley and Peter disagreed.
No one would ever forget the day that Steve Rogers came into the meeting room where all the Avengers were gathered, holding the struggling Belstaff in one hand and asking, “Is this anyone’s coat? I found it in the janitorial closet.”
And that was when Stephen’s Cloak had grabbed him around the neck and had begun to strangle him.
Reactions ranged from “No, not my coat.” to “Strange, get that insane Cloak under control!” to “Oh my god, they were in the janitorial closet? I have to call Harley!” (From Peter) to “Why do we even have a janitorial closet? We don’t have a janitor.” (From Tony).
Harley had been amused and Captain America had gone into battle with some serious bruises around his neck a week later.
Sherlock and John had cracked up upon hearing the story over FaceTime from Tony and Stephen. Stephen said he would drop the Belstaff off the next day and hung up.
The next morning, Stephen noticed the Cloak and the Belstaff hanging from the same hook of the coat rack and smiled at them.