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"What is that?" Wong asked, peering over the back of the library couch to find Stephen sitting cross-legged on said couch, holding.. something in his hands.
Stephen looked up, smiling at Wong over the back of the couch. "It's a label maker. I found it in the attic."
Wong blinked. “And why do you have it?”
Shrugging, Stephen turned it over and typed something into the machine. "I'm just... trying something out?"
Wong sighed. He had too many things to do to regulate Stephen’s odd habits. "Just don't break anything."
Stephen grinned. "I won't!"
Okay. Wong shook his head as he walked away, balancing a laundry basket on his hip. He was well used to Stephen's antics, besides, even the Sorcerer Supreme needed a break every once in a while. Speaking of, Wong decided that it was high time to stop by his favorite deli for a tuna melt between his duties of the day.
{ ⋅ ⟨[⋅(۞)⋅]⟩ ⋅ }
When Wong returned to the Sanctum, Stephen was nowhere to be found. Stephen hadn’t said anything about his plans for the day, but he wasn’t in his room or the library, and neither was there a note on the fridge so Wong figured he was at Kamar-Taj. He portalled straight there, only to find the Ancient One walking through the courtyard, smirking with a thin white... sticker.. pasted to the back of her head. Wong raised a brow as he read what it said. It was just her name, 'Yao'.
Wong was almost afraid to ask. “Yao, why is there a sticker on your head?"
The Ancient One turned and started cackling. Cackling . Wong stared at her, his arms crossed until she wiped away a stray tear and took a few deep breaths. Whatever the reason, the Ancient One found it hilarious.
"It's your husband's fault." She finally managed. Wong sighed. Of course it was.
"Where is he?"
"Uh... he mentioned Jio the last time I saw him."
Wong nodded, thanked his old mentor, and started off towards the medical wing of Kamar-Taj. Just outside the door, Wong was greeted by another tag. This one read 'Jio'. Wong sighed and pushed the door open. Jio was behind her desk, reviewing some paperwork.
"Jio.." Jio looked up, setting her paperwork down and looking over her reading glasses.
"Wong. How can I help?"
"Do you know where I can find Stephen?"
Jio’s lips quirked up. "He talked about hunting down Hamir so... wherever Hamir is." Wong was about to ask when Jio continued, "Check our quarters."
Wong sighed. "Thank you." He bowed slightly, and left. Hamir shared his quarters with his two... Wong still had no idea what they were to each other. Wives? Girlfriends? Partners? Whatever. He, Jio, and Yao had been alive for literal centuries at that point and still hadn't figured it out. Kamar-Taj wasn’t large, and their quarters weren't far from Jio's infirmary, but it was still almost fully across the sanctuary.
Knocking on the door, Wong entered. He found Hamir, reading at his desk. "Hamir. Any idea where Stephen might be?"
Hamir looked up. There was a sticker on his robes with his name on it. Wong sighed as Hamir smiled.
'Entrance hall ' Hamir signed. Wong huffed and thanked him. The entrance hall, a long, closed off hallway that sheltered the Ancient One’s training quarters and held a permanent portal to the inconspicuous door in Kathmandu. The hallway was directly opposite the Ancient One's rooms, so Wong had to walk all the way across Kamar-Taj to get there. He didn’t notice the white sticker lopsidedly holding itself up above the entrance to the library.
As Wong wandered down the long hallway, striding through the portal and into the heat of the city, he wondered what his husband was up. Stephen usually had some sort of crazy shenanigans planned, and was single-handedly responsible for at least 20 percent of the pranks pulled at Kamar-Taj, another 20 is the Cloak was involved.
Stephen often claimed that the Sorcerers and students needed to lighten up more. Wong couldn't really argue his point, when Stephen was the first to be serious when the time came. Still. Wong wondered if this was a practical joke or if there was some kind of meaning to it. One could never tell with the Sorcerer Supreme.
Blinking at the bright sunlight after being in the dark room for so long, Wong nearly missed the tag, barely sticking to the rough stone of the entrance to Kamar-Taj. It was at eye-level --for someone as tall as the giraffe named Stephen, at least-- and glamoured. It was a simple spell, not designed to hide, but make the untrained eye immediately forget what it was, or at least find no meaning in whatever was glamoured, the same spell all Sorcerers had on their robes. Or in this particular case, a sticker with 'Kamar-Taj' scrawled across it in small, uniform print.
Wong blinked. It took him an embarrassingly long moment to realize that the stickers were actually labels and very likely came from Stephen's label maker. The label maker Wong had bought, he remembered with a jolt, when Daniel complained about not being able to find anything in the Sanctum. It had been mostly a joke, but Daniel had put it to good use labeling almost everything in the Sanctum. Wong had used it occasionally as well, labeling Daniel's mess of a tea cupboard and a few filing cabinets when needed.
Most of the labels had fallen off or gotten lost (Wong suspected the Sanctum played at least a small part in the disappearances) after Daniel's death and the label maker was forgotten... somewhere. Wong figured the Sanctum also had a hand in transferring it to the attic to collect dust.
Wong shook his head at the memories of Daniel, bringing himself back to the present to scan the street for any sign of Stephen. He still had no idea where his husband was and the glamoured label had been his last clue. Kathmandu had a population of over eight-hundred thousand, and Stephen had magic, so in reality, the whole world was his oyster.
Wong definitely did not jump when Stephen gleefully shouted his name. He did, however, look up and smile when he saw his husband jogging down the street, his face lit up with the setting sun and a broad smile. The label maker was clutched in one of his hands. Well, at least he hadn't destroyed anything, as far as Wong knew.
"Hey, you." Wong said when Stephen came to a stop before him, pulling him into a short kiss. "What have you been doing all day?"
Stephen hummed. "Labeling things."
"I've... noticed. What else have you labeled, besides Kamar-Taj and the KT3?" What Jio, Yao, and Hamir were known as around Kamar-Taj.
Stephen looked at him, the corners of his eyes wrinkling when he smiled. "The Sanctum, Levi, Christine."
Wong hummed, pulling Stephen towards him, his hands resting on his hips. They should probably be heading inside, but it was warm and Wong wasn't quite ready to face the rest of his duties. Mainly the paperwork he had been attempting to avoid the entire day. "May I ask why...?"
Stephen's grin widened. He leaned back to pull his label maker in between then, typing something into the machine. With a splutter, the machine spat out a label, the noise standing out among the chatter of a bustling city settling down for the night. Stephen dropped the machine through a small portal, likely to his room. Wong watched curiously as Stephen peeled the backing of the label and banished it.
"Well... I've.. labeled all the important things." Stephen paused, almost as if he was lost in thought. "Only the things that I can’t live without."
Wong watched as Stephen reached for his forehead, holding the freshly printed sticker with shaky hands. "And you..." Stephen pressed the sticker to Wong's forehead, smoothing it down with a scarred thumb, the other hand coming to rest on Wong's neck. Wong smiled at the touch as he pulled Stephen closer. "Are very important."
Wong chuckled. "Is this your way of telling me you love me?"
Stephen leaned forward, his lips centimeters away from Wong's. "No. I'm telling you that you're important. This is me telling you I love you." Stephen slotted his lips against Wong's, kissing him slowly. Gently.
Wong returned the kiss, bringing his hands up to Stephen's back as Stephen cradled Wong's head.
They parted just as the sun slipped behind the Himalayan mountains, bathing the city in a golden glow while Kamar-Taj threw them into its shadow. Wong smiled up at Stephen, untangling himself from his husband's long arms. He took Stephen's hand, intertwining their fingers as gently as he could and led him through the labeled door to Kamar-Taj. The sun hadn’t fully set here yet, and Wong took a moment to appreciate how stunning his husband was in the fading light.
Only when they were both naked and sated, spooning under their covers in the chilly Kamar-Taj night and hidden away from the rest of the world, did Wong press a kiss on Stephen’s bare shoulder and whisper his love in the dark.
"You're important to me too. I love you."