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The Order would never force him out, but living in the Sanctum quickly becomes more than Stephen can bear. The place is saturated in magic, and Stephen can’t touch any of it anymore. He only waits as long as he does because he’s afraid the Cloak will return to its glass case when he goes. When he finally admits that, Levi drags him out of there itself. Stephen actually laughs.
Of course, then he has to figure out where he and Levi will live. He’s not without resources—he’d had very good insurance as a neurosurgeon, even if it had taken a while to get it paid out—but something in him recoils from the idea of renting an apartment. Half a reference to the dilemma over lunch with Tony and the next thing Stephen knows he’s been cheerfully installed in a guest room. “I’ve got lots of space,” Tony says. “You can stay as long as you need while you figure things out.”
Stephen gets the distinct impression Tony is glad to have company now that Ms. Potts has moved out.
It’s just as well, because Stephen has nothing to do, so he ends up trailing after Tony like a stray puppy half the time. Which is how he ends up here, on a couch in Tony’s lab, watching as the man works on the next generation of Colonel Rhodes's leg braces. Not that Rhodes has asked for a new generation. The set he has have already made the Stark Industries name in the field of assistive devices, but Tony is never satisfied. Not when it comes to his best friend.
Tony waves and a new hologram springs to life. It’s remarkable how intuitive he’s made the whole— Stephen frowns. “Are you reading signals from the spinal column or the peripheral nervous system?”
“Peripheral nervous system,” Tony says, looking over at him. “Why?”
“The electrodes you’re using must pick up a lot of noise.” Stephen stands and walks over to get a better look.
“They do; we process it out after,” Tony says. “Rhodey didn’t want implants.”
Stephen makes a thoughtful noise, reaching out and manipulating the diagram. “There’s improvements to be made without implants,” he says absently. Tony certainly did his research, but he doesn’t know the nervous system like Stephen does.
Tony tilts his head. “Show me.”
Three hours later, after Levi and DUM-E herd them out of the lab to eat lunch, Tony asks, “So what’s the going rate for a neurosurgeon’s consulting fee?”
Stephen starts to protest and then catches Tony’s sly glance and has to let out an exasperated laugh. “Is there anything you won’t take it upon yourself to fix?”
“Probably not,” Tony says, grinning. “Come on, was I wrong? If that’s what you can do when you’re out of date on the literature, then imagine what you’ll have to offer once you catch up. And you obviously enjoyed it.”
“I did,” Stephen admits. He hadn’t even considered consulting, probably because he’d written the idea off so thoroughly after his accident. But now… Well, Tony didn’t build the newer armors by hand, but they were no less a work of his mind. Stephen didn’t have to hold the knife himself for his work to impact the field, and it turns out he found the intricacies of the human nervous system just as fascinating as he ever had. “How did you know?”
Tony scoffs. “Come on, that was easy. You insisted on being called Doctor even when you were entitled to being called Sorcerer Supreme. Doesn’t take a genius to see that it’s still a part of you.”
“Apparently it did take a genius,” Stephen shoots back, smiling slightly. “Since no one else thought of it.”
Tony just laughs.