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The first time Tony notices something off about Strange is on the trip back to Earth. Quill and his buddies give them a ride—after Tony and Nebula have done some repair work thanks to the wide variety of scrap available on Titan—but their ship isn’t quite on the level of the donut, so it takes a few days.
Peter sticks pretty close to Tony, which makes sense given that the others are all strangers, even if they did just fight a battle together. Tony isn’t exactly expecting Strange to do the same, but there had definitely been an us versus them dynamic going on, and he expects Strange to continue sticking mostly with ‘us.’ But he doesn’t.
Instead, he asks Quill what their plans are. He smiles when the big guy, Drax, makes a literal comment. He even commiserates with them a little over the loss of their friend, Gamora. Nothing they say seems to surprise him, even when they tell him that the first step in their plans is to find Thor and someone named Rocket, who—after a little questioning—is apparently an enhanced sentient that looks almost exactly like a raccoon. Strange just nods, like this is normal and expected.
And while the odd familiarity is most obvious with the aliens, once Tony starts looking he realizes that it extends to him and Peter, too. Strange magically examines the rations available on the ship and declares them safe despite Tony and Peter’s food sensitivities without having to ask what those sensitivities are. He assures Peter that Aunt May will be more relieved he’s safe than angry he went, even though Peter never mentioned his aunt’s name. He laughs when Tony references a running joke he has with Rhodey.
Tony doesn’t say anything about it, not while they’re on the ship. Strange might trust Quill and the others, but Tony doesn’t. Besides, he’s still got data to gather.
After they get back to Earth they’re swept up in the business of bringing governments and other heroes up to speed. Everyone wants answers, and there’s no avoiding all of them. Tony learned that lesson the hard way. Regardless, between that and trying to get his own life in order, it means that nearly a month goes by before he sees Strange outside the context of one of these debriefings.
At first, Tony thinks the odd familiarity is gone. There are none of the slips that Tony saw from Strange on the way home from Titan.
Then he realizes it’s not what Strange does say, but what he doesn’t.
No one has ever been particularly good at following Tony’s train of thought, but Strange never misses a leap. He avoids casting portals within Tony’s line of sight. He listens to Peter ramble on with a patience that Tony knows has to be learned.
Somehow, Strange knows them.
Tony suspects that Strange knows all of them—Quill and his companions, Rogers, Barnes, and more. Some better than others.
Something changed between crashing on Titan and defeating Thanos to give him that knowledge, and the only thing Tony can think of is “I went forward in time to view alternate futures.” Fourteen million six hundred and five futures is more than enough to come to know everyone who could possibly have a part in defeating Thanos.
But while Strange might know him, Tony doesn’t know Strange. He wants confirmation, and he thinks it's a good bet he can find it right here in New York. On the way home, Strange had trouble keeping track of what he was supposed to know. Now he doesn’t. Something changed, and Strange is based here in New York. It’s possible he took care of it at Wizard HQ, but Tony thinks Strange would want to keep something like that close.
Strange’s base, the Sanctum Sanctorum, is invulnerable to hacking. Tony’s not sure if that’s magic or just a shortage of computers. Either way, it looks like some real live snooping is called for.
Fortunately, while the Sanctum may be invulnerable to hacking, it’s still located on a public street. Tony sets FRIDAY to watching and waits.
“Boss,” FRIDAY finally says three days later, “Doctor Strange and Master Wong have both left the Sanctum.”
Tony sets aside his current projects and stands. “Excellent. Any indication of other residents?”
“None that I can detect,” FRIDAY says, “but my scans don’t reach within the building. Considering the availability of portals, it is possible you will encounter other sorcerers.”
“Hmmm. Still my best opportunity,” Tony decides. He uses the armor to cross the city, but makes sure to land a block or two away and approach the Sanctum on foot.
When he arrives, he doesn’t knock to test if there is anyone else present: if they are, he’d rather try to make excuses if he runs into them than actively draw their attention. The Sanctum doors swing open smoothly under his touch. “Huh.” Tony takes a quick look at the door as he steps inside, but there is a locking mechanism. Apparently it just wasn’t engaged. “Trusting bunch,” he mutters.
The sweeping staircase looks a lot better than the last time he was here: it’s been repaired, though whether by carpenters or magic Tony couldn’t have said. Still, he keeps to one side as he heads up to the second floor.
The staircase branches left and right before transitioning into hallways. Past the railing that frames the landing between the two branches, Tony can see into a hall filled with glass cases. Tony has no idea what he’s looking for, nevermind where it will be; he took the staircase because it seemed unlikely that anything protected would be on the first floor. By the same logic, he doubts what he’s looking for is on display. Turning left more or less at random, Tony continues up the stairs and takes the first hallway after the landing.
The hall is lined by a long series of closed doors. This place is the polar opposite of ‘Open Plan’. Opening the first door, Tony finds himself looking into a bedroom. The bed, an old fashioned wooden four-poster, dominates the room. Bookcases line the walls, interrupted only by a large wardrobe and a huge window. Tony frowns and looks both ways down the hallway, then leans back out of the mouth of the hall.
There shouldn’t be windows there.
Tony looks back into the room, then slowly closes the door. He moves to the next door down the hallway and opens that one… to the same room. Not just the same type of room, there are literally the same knick knacks on the bedside tables. Closing that door, Tony leaves that hallway, enters the next, and walks down three doors before opening one.
Same room again.
“This is why I hate magic,” Tony says aloud. He’s almost surprised when the lights don’t flicker.
On the other hand, if the building can move its rooms around, surely it could keep him from getting past the main entrance. Why not just have every door open back to the foyer? Which means that there’s something here it wants him to see. Carefully stepping into the bedroom, Tony takes a long look around.
It’s almost immediately apparent that this is Strange’s bedroom. A set of his robes are thrown over a chair that had been just out of view from the doorway, and there’s a medical journal on one of the side tables. The books on the shelves all have vaguely magical titles, though. At least, the ones with titles he can read; Tony doesn't even recognize many of the alphabets.
In the corner, next to the chair, there’s a small desk. Tony moves there and sits down, scooting the chair in so that he can start opening drawers. Most of them contain the usual paraphernalia, but in the top right drawer he finds a wooden box carved with chains. Tony slowly withdraws it from the drawer and sets it on the desk’s surface.
The chain carvings are a little foreboding, but they aren’t actual chains. As far as Tony can tell, the box doesn’t even have a lock. There are no hinges: the lid seems to simply sit on the base. Carefully, a bit wary of magical protections, he lifts the lid. It comes off easily. No spells are activated, as far as Tony can tell. He sets the lid aside, his attention focused on the contents of the box.
It’s full of sand.
At least, it looks like sand. “FRIDAY, analyze the contents of this box,” Tony directs.
“Yes, boss,” FRIDAY’s voice emanates from the watch Tony is wearing. A beam of light sweeps over the box. “Pure quartz sand,” she reports. “According to my readings, the only unusual aspect is the degree of purity; I detect no contaminants at all.”
Why keep a box of sand? Would FRIDAY even be able to tell if it was enchanted? Strange’s magic doesn’t always register on his sensors.
Tentatively, Tony extends a finger and pokes the sand.
They warn Peter Quill in advance that Gamora is dead, but the knowledge renders him useless and Mantis is able to hold on only a few seconds longer.
Stephen watches Tony arguing over something that is not a peach with someone who is not an elf and smiles.
“The time loop won’t hold him for long,” Stephen says. He turns to the Guardians. “Where’s your ship? We need to get back to Earth, rally our allies.”
Stephen hides from Thanos in a pocket of Time while the mad titan kills everyone. Tony. Peter. Quill. Everyone. By the time Stephen gets back to Earth, every inch of the planet has been razed to the ground. There are no survivors. Thanos finds him two years later. In a way, it’s a relief.
Peter leans over Stephen’s shoulder while he crafts a new camouflage spell. “Are you ever going to tell him?” He doesn’t specify who or what, but he doesn’t need to; the only person who doesn’t know Stephen is in love with Tony is Tony.
Together, Stephen and Tony craft a fake Time Stone. The Guardians take it and draw Thanos away from Titan while Stephen, Tony, and Peter run. They don’t know what they’re looking for, but surely between Stephen’s magical knowledge and Tony’s technical knowledge, they’ll be able to find something that makes the difference.
Tony pilots their ship into an expanding supernova. It isn’t enough.
Stephen kisses Tony for the first time on the roof of the Sanctum Sanctorum. The ships exploding overhead are like fireworks. For a few precious years, they think they’ve won.
Stephen kisses Tony for the first time with tears running down his cheeks and blood drying on his hands.
Stephen kisses Tony for the first time in an unremarkable backyard on an unremarkable afternoon. They fall to ashes in each other’s arms, and neither of them sees it coming.
Stephen runs.
Stephen dies and Tony runs.
They both die and Peter runs.
Captain America wields a gauntlet embedded with two stones and Thanos atomizes him.
The Hulk goes fist to fist with Thanos and dies when Thanos tears the part that is Hulk away from the part that is Bruce.
Stephen and Tony get married on a planet with two suns and purple grass.
Planets start calling them the Heralds of Thanos, because no matter where they run, he follows. In the end, they’re shot down by a planetary defense system. Thanos spares the planet in thanks.
Tony proposes to Stephen in a five star restaurant with a wedding ring in a champagne glass. It’s every cliche in the book and Stephen loves every second of it.
Tony surfaces from the memories with a gasp. His finger is still extended. A scarred hand is wrapped around his wrist, drawing him back from the sand. Tony turns to face Stephen and tears spring to his eyes. Stephen is alive and here and they won. Tony reaches out and pulls Stephen down into a kiss.
Stephen’s mouth is soft and familiar against Tony’s. The prickle of his goatee, the sweep of his tongue… It feels like it’s been a hundred years since they last kissed, and at the same time it feels like just moments. They find their rhythm smoothly, easily, and Tony revels in the lines of Stephen’s lean body pressing against his. It’s perfect.
Slowly, the kiss trails off. Tony opens his eyes and his heart plunges when he sees the devastated look on Stephen’s face. “What’s wrong?” Tony asks, running a thumb over Stephen’s cheekbone.
He closes his eyes and turns into the caress, but then his hands come up and take Tony’s, pulling them away from his face and holding them gently between them instead. “Tony,” Stephen says, his voice tight, “the feelings you’re experiencing right now… they aren’t real.”
“Bullshit,” Tony replies immediately. “I’ve had my head fucked with enough to know what’s me and what’s not, Stephen.”
But Stephen shakes his head even as his hands tighten around Tony’s. “After Titan, the memories of the fourteen million timelines I visited were overwhelming,” he says. “I couldn’t separate those memories from my experience of the timeline we’re actually living in. I was losing my grip on reality. But those memories also couldn’t be destroyed, not without creating a temporal paradox. The Masters at Kamar-Taj helped me transfer them to a safer medium,” he nodded at the box of sand, “leaving behind only an echo that could easily be distinguished from reality. When you touched the sand, my memories flooded your mind. How you’re feeling now”—Stephen swallowed hard, dropping his gaze—“those are my emotions, not yours.”
“Stephen,” Tony gives their joined hands a little shake until Stephen meets his gaze. “If your emotions were overwriting my own, I’d be in love with myself.” He lets the corner of his mouth quirk up. “And as narcissistic as people say I can be, that’s not what I’m feeling right now.”
Stephen frowns. “But… they’re my memories.”
“Yeah. Which means I didn’t just get to experience what you said and did, I also got to experience what you felt and thought. I got an accelerated course in what makes you tick, and what kind of man you are.” Tony smiled wryly. “Just because those events didn’t happen in this timeline doesn’t mean they weren’t real. The feelings I developed after experiencing them are just as real as the feelings you developed after experiencing them.”
Stephen searches Tony’s expression almost desperately. Tony does his best to let the love he feels shine through, and Stephen must see it, must believe it, because he lets out a shuddering breath and closes eyes briefly. When he opens them again, he smiles shakily. “I love you.”
Tony beams back at him. “I love you, too,” he says, and savors the sight of Stephen’s expression settling. “We’re going to have to date all over again, though. None of our friends were privy to the relationship speedrun.”
“Dating you is never a hardship,” Stephen says, his own smile widening.
“I’m going to remind you that you said that later,” Tony teases.
Stephen just kisses him again.
~End~