Chapter Text
“I’m going to pay for that comment about percentages in some subtle way later, aren’t I?” Tony asked as he slipped into the seat next to Stephen. He sent Stephen a ‘help me’ look, but Stephen was perfectly willing to watch Tony dig himself into a hole with Pepper without contributing.
“It’s not going to be that subtle,” Pepper said, and she looked faintly amused beneath the faux remonstration.
“I’ll tell you what,” Tony said, making his voice reasonable, spreading his hands in an open gesture. “The next building is going to say ‘Potts’ on the tower,” Tony said, and he even managed to say it without sounding like he was backwheeling.
Pepper raised an eyebrow at that, sending Stephen a ‘do you see this’ look, before shaking her head. “I’m the CEO. My name’s going to be on the lease.”
“You’ve never offered to put Strange on one of your buildings,” Stephen chipped in, because nothing was more fun than watching Tony realize he was being ganged up on. Not that he thought they had any real need for any more Stark buildings, but then he knew there was some business reason behind it. That was out of Stephen’s wheelhouse, however, and he was content to leave it that way. “Should I be jealous?”
Tony sent him a betrayed look, mouth opening to defend himself when he caught sight of the look on Stephen’s face. “You’re ridiculous.” Tony leaned over and kissed him. Stephen grinned into the kiss. “You will never have a reason to be jealous,” Tony said, voice fervent, lips brushing against Stephen’s own at the words. He drew back a little, a teasing grin on his face. “Though… that sounds a lot like your way of asking me to take your name. I’m not sure how people would feel if I renamed the company Strange Industries. I’d do it, though.”
“That’s a no,” Pepper said from her place on the couch. “That’s a very, very hard no. You are not changing the company name because Stephen’s possessive.”
“I didn’t ask him to,” Stephen pointed out, though he could hardly be offended when the idea of Tony taking his name was as appealing as it was. Not that he’d ever ask Tony to rename Stark Industries. That’d be taking things a little far. But Tony Strange, it had a nice ring to it. “Taking my name is more than enough. Tony’s just being excessive.”
Tony placed a hand on his chest, miming offense. “Now is that any way to—“
JARVIS’ voice interrupted the banter. “Sir, the telephone. I’m afraid my protocols are being overwritten.”
Stephen frowned as Tony straightened, attention going sharp as he reached for his phone. “Mr. Stark,” came a man’s voice from the device. “We need to talk.”
Tony narrowed his eyes and stared at the phone for a second. He made a face at Stephen before holding the phone in front of his face. “You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark.” Stephen rolled his eyes and exchanged an exasperated look with Pepper. “Please leave a message.”
“This is urgent,” said the voice.
“Then leave it urgently.”
The door to the elevator opened and a bland looking man stepped into the room. Tony pointed at Pepper. “Security breach. It’s on you.” The words were light and teasing, but Tony had gone sharp and tense.
“Mr. Stark,” the man said, nodding in hello as though he hadn’t just broken into the tower with absolutely no compunctions. Stephen didn’t know the man, but he already didn’t like him.
“Phil!” Pepper brightened, standing from the couch. “Come in.”
Tony was frowning. “I know you, don’t I?” He snapped his fingers a few times as though trying to remember, though Stephen had no doubt that he had already placed him and was putting on a show. “You’re the guy with the alibi. Agent Coulson.”
“Guy with the alibi?” Stephen repeated, eyeing this ‘Agent Coulson’ with as much distrust as he could manage. “What does that mean?”
Tony reached out and took his hand, squeezing gently and running his thumb over the ring on Stephen’s finger in a comforting gesture. Stephen immediately knew he wasn’t going to like the answer. “He’s an agent with SHIELD.”
Stephen stiffened. “Get out,” he ordered. “SHIELD’s not welcome in this tower.”
Pepper hesitated where she was a few feet from Coulson, clearly thrown off by his behavior. They had never told anyone about what had happened with SHIELD during the palladium poisoning and Stephen was regretting that now if they’d been using Pepper’s apparent friendship with an agent to their advantage.
Coulson held up a tablet he was holding, meeting Tony’s eyes evenly, completely ignoring Stephen. “We need you to look this over as soon as possible.”
“I don’t consult for you,” Tony said evenly, standing and moving around the couch to where Coulson and Pepper stood. “I declined the offer, if you recall.”
“Tony,” Pepper started slowly, glancing between Coulson, Tony, and Stephen, clearly trying to read the room. Normally she was good at it, but Stephen doubted she was getting the full story this time. “What are you talking about? What offer? And what’s wrong with SHIELD? SHIELD helped us, back with Stane.”
Stephen had been in New York when that whole thing had gone down and had only ever heard about what happened that night second hand from Tony. Tony’s focus had, understandably, been more on Stane and what Stane’s betrayal meant than he’d been on side players, which was where Stephen had put his own focus. So, while Stephen had known that SHIELD had been involved, he’d never spent a great deal of thought on it. The reminder of the role they’d played—where they’d helped—should probably have helped ease Stephen’s tension. In truth it did nothing to help warm his feelings towards SHIELD. One good deed meant nothing, especially if he was reading the ‘guy with the alibi’ line right.
Control tactic.
He refused to trust SHIELD with Tony.
“And now we need your help,” Coulson pressed, he held out the tablet to Tony. “Lives are at stake.”
Stephen closed his eyes. Because it was the one manipulation he was powerless to save Tony from. Because it would mean changing Tony from becoming the man he wanted to be and Stephen couldn’t do that even if he wanted to.
And he loved Tony too much to want to.
He stood, following Tony over, pressing a hand against Tony’s back in a silent claim. And perhaps a little bit of a challenge. He knew Coulson saw it, the man’s lips pressing into a thin line for a half second before his expression turned neutral and blank.
“I don’t like being handed things,” Tony said, staring at the tablet. Stephen could see the consideration in his eyes, the weight of ‘lives at stake’ versus his desire to stay away from SHIELD, both for his own sake and Stephen’s, Stephen suspected.
Pepper looked like she was about to take the tablet for Tony, but was clearly still unsure about the shift in dynamics and his and Tony’s reactions to Coulson’s presence.
Stephen debated with himself for a long moment before he stepped forward and took the tablet. Coulson stiffened. Clearly he was well aware what had happened the last time Stephen had taken something that was meant for Tony.
It had not gone well for SHIELD.
He didn’t want to do this, he thought unhappily. He held the tablet in his hand for a moment, feeling the weight of it, a pressure there that had nothing to do with how heavy it was. If he handed this to Tony then he was giving his tacit support to whatever happened next. To whatever was on this tablet.
Tony met his eyes, and his face softened in understanding. Tony reached out, making his choice. Stephen met his eyes, reading the answer there. Stephen handed it over, and with that, gave his support. “You,” Tony said quietly. “I don’t mind being handed things from.” He stepped forward, pressing a kiss to Stephen’s cheek.
He turned leaving Stephen with Coulson and Pepper, moving towards the back of the room, opening the tablet and starting to glance through it.
“So this is what Fury wanted Iron Man for, huh? A super secret boy band: Avengers Initiative. That’s an awful name. What are they Avenging?” Stephen felt a small smile force its way onto his face despite the gravity of the situation. “Stephen, want to come here for a moment?”
Stephen sent a sharp look at Coulson before following Tony over. “What is this?” he asked, looking over Tony’s shoulder at the information on the tablet.
Tony manipulated the data, integrating it with his systems and then pushing the information out so that it was hovering in front of them.
It took half a second to start taking it in, but when he did his gaze passed over the different profiles. An alien prince, an un-frozen super soldier, a scientist turned… something. The Avengers. And Fury and this Coulson wanted Iron Man to be a part of them.
Stephen had a bad feeling about this whole thing.
“Whatever this is,” Tony said slowly. “Whatever has happened that they’re trying to bring me in again. That they’re looking at bringing in people like Banner. It’s big, Stephen.”
Stephen felt something like dread run down his back. “Too big for you to turn your back on,” he surmised quietly. A feeling of helplessness settled heavily in his gut, helpless because this was not something he could keep Tony from.
Tony met his gaze, apology and promise in one. “This is what I’m meant to do, Stephen.”
“I know.” He had known since the first Iron Man suit and Tony’s quiet confession that he finally felt like he’d found his purpose. He’d known it when he’d asked Tony to marry him. Had known it on every weapons retrieval mission that Tony had gone on. He knew it now, even if that didn’t make him like it any more. “Okay,” he agreed quietly. “You’ve got my support.” He leaned forward and kissed Tony slowly. “You’ll always have my support,” he promised. “But I still want to talk about it before you sign up for anything more than this, okay?”
Tony grinned at him. “That’s a promise, husband-to-be.” He shrugged, action nonchalant. “And hey, how often is something big enough to call in the Avengers going to happen anyways?”
A chill ran down his back. “Do not jinx us,” Stephen warned.
Tony rolled his eyes. “You don’t even believe in jinxes, Stephen.”
“And I don’t want to have a reason to start second-guessing that particular belief system,” Stephen countered. “And if jinxes were real, you would be the exact person that they would happen to. And since I plan on being at your side for a long time to come, that means I get caught up in the mess of it. So don’t go giving life the opportunity to make a cosmic joke out of us.”
The look Tony gave him was a mix of amused and exasperated, even as his attention went back to the files. He picked a blue cube out of the files, examining it. The file labeled it the tesseract. “I don’t suppose you’re interested in learning about thermonuclear astrophysics with me?”
Stephen snorted. “I’ll pass. But what I will do is go make you a pot of coffee.” He turned to see that Coulson was still there, him and Pepper watching the two of them. His smile disappeared. “You might as well head out for the night, Pepper. Tony’s going to be a busy the rest of the night.” His gaze turned to Coulson. “And you’ve done your job, now get out of this tower. The next time you break in like this, don’t expect a warm welcome, no matter what ‘emergency’ you have on your hands.” He’d use every tool he had to make sure they paid for it, up to and including the influence he knew he had on Tony.
It would do no good for Coulson and the rest of SHIELD to think that this sort of behavior was permissible or they’d never stop.
Coulson nodded, face grim. “Understood.”
That, Stephen thought bitterly, would remain to be seen.
Pepper glanced between them all again, and Stephen could tell that next time they were all together and didn’t have some sort of threat hanging over their heads, she was going to be demanding answers. They probably should have given them to her a long time ago, but it was too late for that.
“I’ll take the jet and fly out to DC tonight,” Pepper decided. “If you need me, either of you, let me know.”
“Of course,” Stephen said easily. “I’ll let you know.” Tony was already diving into the information on the tablet and would be essentially useless for the next several hours. Of course, he’d be learning a whole new field of science in the meantime, so Stephen figured he could cut Tony some slack.
Stephen started a pot of coffee, leaning against the counter and watching Tony silently. He was surrounded by holograms, turning slowly as he absorbed the information with a speed that still astounded Stephen, and Stephen wasn’t exactly a slouch in that department. Tony was chatting with JARVIS as he went, new information constantly flickering to life. Stephen had always found him beautiful like this. Oblivious to the world as he chased knowledge or understanding, always going after something new. New problems to solve, new ideas to discover, new things to create.
It had been that that had attracted him to Tony that first night. What had started as a potential one night stand hadn’t even made it to sex before they’d ended up in Tony’s lab as Tony almost frantically scribbled notes as he quizzed Stephen on the finer intricacies of neuroscience. The questioning had turned into an argument, had turned into a research binge as they both tried to prove their point, had turned into… well, it’d turned into sex, eventually. But listening to Tony—arguing with Tony—and Stephen hadn’t been able to not be pulled in.
It had been like that ever since. Whether they were arguing, or teaming up against someone else, or just brainstorming, it was as though Tony couldn’t help but throw himself completely into it and Stephen couldn’t help but meet him halfway.
Stephen had once thought that his only love would be neurosurgery. Losing Tony to Afghanistan had been a wake-up call. Three months they’d been dating and losing Tony had felt like losing his heart. Getting him back had felt like a new lease on life.
Going back to New York after those first few weeks where he stayed with Tony in California had been difficult beyond belief. He had genuinely thought about switching hospitals so that he could actually be with Tony, despite the fact that they’d only been together three months, six if he counted Afghanistan—but those probably shouldn’t count—and Stephen had once sworn that he would never sacrifice his own career for anything or anyone. He would have done it, though, if Tony hadn’t talked him out of it.
Stephen wondered if that was when Tony had started thinking of moving to New York instead.
He shook his head, knocking the thoughts away. “JARVIS?” he asked quietly.
From the speaker closest to him JARVIS responded. “Yes, Doctor?”
“Has Tony given me the necessary permissions to look at the information that the agent brought Tony?”
“Of course, Doctor. He has signed no non-disclosure agreements with SHIELD.” That wasn’t optimal for SHIELD, but then, when they were just desperate to get Tony to look at their stuff in the first place, they probably weren’t considering the need for NDAs. “And thus has given you full access.”
Stephen nodded. “I want to see the profiles of Tony’s supposed teammates.” When it came to people, Stephen would hardly consider himself an expert. He could handle people when they were a nervous system on his operating table, when they were actually people… that was another matter. Most people just… well, they bored him. Or infuriated him. Or annoyed him. Or just plain… didn’t register to him. Christine had always told him he needed to work on that. Stephen suspected she was probably right, but he… well, it wasn’t a priority.
But he still wanted to try to get a better feel for what Tony was getting himself into, which meant he needed to try to actually understand them… easier said than done. Especially when all he had to work on was SHIELD’s notes on the individuals in question. He already knew from experience that they were willing to use information like that to manipulate—and that was if the information was even accurate in the first place.
He grit his teeth at the thought that this ‘team’ would be getting that bullshit personality report as their only introduction to Tony. God, that felt like a disaster in the making.
“Where do you think I should start, JARVIS?”
“Perhaps with Doctor Banner. You and Sir seem to have foundational similarities which may make him a good starting ground.”
Stephen took a deep breath and plunged in. JARVIS was right that starting with Doctor Banner was the better choice. While there were wild and stark differences between the two of them and Banner—the large, dangerous alter ego being the most prominent—there was at least a base they could work off of. Banner, Stephen thought, had the potential for Tony to befriend, especially if Banner’s suspicion for the army extended to government agencies like SHIELD.
It would be nice if Tony was with like-minded individuals there.
Stephen read through everything they had on the Hulk quickly, feeling a shiver run down his back at the amount of sheer destruction that the Hulk was capable of. He’d heard about what had happened in Harlem. Of course he had, but the stories had seemed so fantastical… He wondered if he’d be able to convince Tony to leave this one well enough alone. He glanced at up at Tony who was still deeply enthralled in whatever aspect of thermonuclear astrophysics he was currently learning about.
No. Tony wouldn’t. Tony would look at Bruce Banner and see him for the scientist he was. If anything, he’d be fascinated by the Hulk rather than frightened of it.
Stephen felt a momentary twinge of guilt for his own judgment of the man. But it was difficult to look past the danger the man presented when it was Tony who’d be working alongside that uncontrollable rage.
He moved on to the next file. Thor, apparent god of thunder. An alien, demi-god, type being. That bit was somewhat unclear. There wasn’t nearly as much about Thor as there was about Banner. A detailed account of his visit to New Mexico and his interactions with a Jane Foster, Darcy Lewis, and Erik Selvig, as well as the encounter with something called ‘the Destroyer’ with a brief psychological analysis.
Thor, according to the file, had a superiority complex and anger issues. How charming. Was there going to be a single one of these ‘Avengers’ who was well-adjusted? While he had to take everything that these files said with a grain of salt—SHIELD had put them together, after all—they were the only bits of insight that he had. From what little he saw, neither Thor nor Banner were particularly well-adjusted. And while Stephen might love Tony, he wouldn’t exactly describe him as ‘well-adjusted’, either. A genius billionaire with trauma he dealt with by climbing into a suit made of gold-titanium alloy to go fight terrorists… not what Stephen considered well-adjusted. Quite the opposite.
Didn’t stop Stephen from loving him.
He shook his head and sighed, moving onto the third and final personality file.
Steve Rogers. Stephen flicked through everything, unease curling deep in his gut.
Oh.
He knew Steve Rogers. Or at least he knew of Steve Rogers.
Neither Stephen nor Tony were free of daddy issues—excellent bonding material, really—and Steve Rogers was a particularly sore spot for Tony.
And reading through his personality file it felt like a disaster waiting to happen. The chances that Tony and Rogers wouldn’t butt heads was minimal. Especially if the timeline showing that Rogers had been de-frosted—and that was a medical miracle that had Stephen itching to know more—for less than a year were accurate. No way was Rogers well-adjusted at this point. Which just added yet another unstable element to an already unstable situation.
And SHIELD thought that this… team was a good idea? Stephen was mildly terrified.
He glanced back at Tony to see him pacing, the holograms keeping pace with him as he snapped his fingers and rubbed his hands together in that way he did when he was in deep thought.
Stephen sighed, preparing a cup of coffee and bringing it to Tony who took it absently. Stephen didn’t try to interrupt, instead moving back to the files and going through everything else so he had a better idea of what Tony was going through.
SHIELD would probably have a fit if they realized just how much access Tony had given him. But they really should have gotten Tony to sign an NDA if they wanted to stop this from happening.
It was another few hours when Stephen felt the first hints of sleep tug at him—and he had a shift tomorrow, so he really couldn’t stay up much later—and he found himself drifting off. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed when he distantly felt Tony sit next to him on the couch and press a kiss to his forehead.
He stirred himself awake. “You should be in bed,” Tony said quietly. “You have surgery tomorrow.” He glanced at his watch. “Later today, really.”
Stephen yawned. “Wanted to talk to you before you headed out to deal with an alien’s attempt to subjugate the earth.”
“I see you did your own reading,” Tony noted. “Anything I need to know?”
Stephen hesitated. “Just looking at your potential teammates.”
Tony waved his hand dismissively. “Eh, it’s a one off. Don’t think that makes us actual teammates.”
Stephen both agreed with that and didn’t. “For this—“ he waved at the tablet, “—you might need to be.”
A compromised agent—though the details on how he’d been compromised were sparse—an overpowered cube that had caused an entire base to collapse in on itself, an alien demi-god with aspirations to crush humanity, a potential alien army…
He shuddered.
Tony eyed him. “Always a bad sign when you’re suggesting working with people. You hate working with people.”
Stephen snorted. “You looked at the same information I did.”
Tony shrugged with a nonchalance Stephen doubted he actually felt. “All right, so I see your point.”
Stephen was quiet. “Don’t trust SHIELD, Tony.” He reached a hand out and pressed his palm to Tony’s arc reactor. “Work with them, but don’t trust them.”
“I didn’t need you to tell me that.” Tony gave him an exasperated, but fond, look. “I already know better than to trust an intelligence agency like SHIELD.”
“Just… remember that they’ve gotten to everyone else first. The chances are that that bogus personality profile has been shown around. And the chances are high that people will believe it.” He met Tony’s eyes. “SHIELD doesn’t know you. None of these people will know you.” Tony’s gaze averted away from him. Stephen leaned forward, catching Tony’s cheek with his hand, directing Tony’s gaze back to meet his own. “So don’t let them get to you. I know you. So listen to me when I say that they need you. You. Not just Iron Man, though they certainly need you in that capacity, too.”
“Of course they need me,” Tony said, a scoff in his voice. “Everyone does.” Stephen didn’t doubt that the act would fool most people. Knew that, no matter what Stephen said, it was the same act that Tony would use with this team and it would be believed.
“They need you. You. The suit is nothing without you,” Stephen reiterated, but then shifted away before he could make Tony retreat. “And I need you. So don’t you dare die.”
Tony lifted his left hand three fingers up in the scout’s honor sign. “Scout’s honor, doc.”
Stephen rolled his eyes. “Wrong hand, Tony. And you were never a scout.”
“So picky.” Tony grinned, but leaned forward and kissed Stephen. Despite the smile on his face, his tone was perfectly serious. “I’ll do everything I can to come back to you, Stephen.”
Stephen kissed him back, infusing every ounce of his love into the press of his lips against Tony’s. Making sure that Tony knew, knew that Stephen loved him. “You better. We haven’t married yet. Where’s my wedding?”
“Blame Christine and Rhodey; they’re the ones who thought we should take our engagement slowly after our broken up to engaged speed run.” Tony’s lip twitched up in a smile. “And then blame yourself, because you agreed with them.” Reluctantly, Stephen thought that should be noted. He had agreed reluctantly. “Plus, big, fancy weddings take time to plan. And I plan on spoiling you.”
“I do like being spoiled.”
For a moment things felt almost safe, easy, and then JARVIS was interrupting. “Sir, Loki has been spotted in Stuttgart, Germany.”
Tony’s smile disappeared. “I’ve got to go, Stephen.” He stood, before leaning forward and pressing another kiss to Stephen’s forehead. “Get a little more sleep before you go to work. We can’t have a tired neurosurgeon on the floor.”
Stephen didn’t think he’d get any more sleep, now. “Stay safe.”
“I will,” Tony said. “And hey, maybe this will all work out just fine and I’ll be here when you get home.”