#Protective Stephen Strange

[strangefaninastrangeland]

Cat's cradle – Strange Tales Of Halloween 2024 – Prompt: several ;)

A/N: A light story with some creepy elements for the season. Beta by the wonderful @hayanwulf. Prompts from the event Strange Tales Of Halloween 2024 @a-strange-server: Claws | “I don’t take orders from a cat.” | Shadow | Demon | Halloween

Stephen deserved a cup of hot tea, with a little honey. Actually, make it a lot of honey: today had been a fruitful day full of successful ghost hunting. The celebratory tea wasn’t meant to be, apparently: he felt a growing tension in the Sanctum, heavy enough to make him stop in his tracks on his way to the kitchen. It suddenly transitioned into something alarming, and Stephen turned toward the corridor of seldom-used practice rooms, trying to place the origin of the feeling. His pace quickened with every step until he was running full-tilt for the last few feet.

He came to an abrupt halt. The door to one of the practice rooms opened wide at his presence, as if welcoming him. Yet the feeling of the room was anything but welcoming. The unpleasant hum he had felt in his breastbone earlier became audible now. The light streaming from the open door pulsed in a staccato rhythm, conducive to a piercing headache. He faced it all head-on.

The room was filled with a complicated latticework of flashing strands of energy, crisscrossing the space like intangible strings. At the center, where many of the lines converged to form a luminescent nexus, stood a familiar human shape.

Stephen groaned. It was not a whine.

“America? What is this supposed to be?” His voice was calm, given the circumstances, with just a hint of tension.

“Stephen? It hurts!”

The cry for help spurred Stephen into action. He took in the scene again, trying to make sense of it, but the complex spell had barely any parts he recognized. He had to rely on his instincts. He reached out mentally and grasped the wavering energy lines. He straightened, flicked his hands and pulled a fistful of the pulsing strands to himself, forcing the terrible harsh light into a bearable glow.

He was able to discern more of the novice now—her desperate grimace and glowing eyes, her hands grabbing at the energy lines trembling in a way that made Stephen’s look steady. The room still looked just as confusing as before: the short bursts of light should have created sharply outlined shadows on the walls, but instead an indistinct mass like heavy smoke swirled menacingly around America’s feet.

Stephen hooked the strands with his will, like strings over fingers, pulling and twisting them into new patterns. He wanted to reduce the complexity and slowly dissolve the spell, but it had a mind of its own, refusing to cooperate.

America adjusted her footing and loosened her grip on the strands. The lattice moved into a star shape and held it for a moment, and Stephen snatched at the chance. He delicately tugged at a knot, taking over from America seamlessly and turning the tangle into a simple frame.

In turn, the shadowy mass erupted around America, streamed toward the ceiling through the spell-frame, doused its light, then dropped down in the furthest corner. It had taken on a somewhat more solid shape now.

Stephen squinted.

“It’s a cat.”

“It’s a demon!” whispered America breathlessly. “Look at the glowing eyes… And the black fangs… It’s a shadow demon, it’s come to tear out our souls!”

“Kid,” whispered back Stephen in exasperation, “stop being melodramatic!” He was, of course, aware of the irony of him requesting this.

The cat-demon-shadow creature used his momentary distraction to leap at his face, use it as a springboard, and somersault out of the open door into the dark corridor. Its claws left burning streaks of pain behind. Excellent. Lifting his trembling hand to his face, carefully avoiding pressure on the injury, Stephen turned to America.

“Now would be a good time to quickly summarize what this was supposed to be?”

~~~

America was one of the more bearable people visiting for Sanctum duty. She was funny, self-reliant, knew no fear (or at least, little fear), and only needed to be told what to do once, maybe twice—unlike most of the lot. The downside was that she had little to no fear of Stephen, and her self-reliance combined with her inventiveness could lead to situations like the current one.

“So, you integrated several summoning and shadow shaping spells into the Harridan Rites. But to what purpose again?”

“I wanted to decorate for Samhain, as a surprise for you. With moving shadows.”

“Since when does one decorate with shadows for Samhain? Is carving turnip lamps and weaving hawthorn wreaths not enough? Admit it, you wanted to make it spookier for Halloween…”

America made a face of unbelieving, falsely accused innocence. She had mentioned being curious about Halloween earlier, when Stephen had given her the short, requisite orientation upon her arrival at the Sanctum. But that was in the morning, just before heading out, and he had been too preoccupied with reducing the hauntings in his assigned area to pay it enough mind.

They were scouring the Sanctum up and down for the escaped shadow creature. Almost an hour went by with no success. The Sanctum itself remained frustratingly uncooperative. The feeling of danger had disappeared completely. The Cloak showed up only to trail after the two of them for a few minutes, then slipped away wherever without helping. Stephen would remember this when it came to brushing time.

After running around futilely, Stephen decided to turn this into a learning opportunity for America. He showed her the wards against intruders in the Observation Room and demonstrated how to run an active check on the Sanctum. He knew it would be of no use for detecting the creature. If the wards didn’t alert him and the Sanctum didn’t guide him to the source of danger, there was, from a magical point of view, no danger. At least no greater one than what always lurked in the Sanctum.

As evening turned into night, America began to flag. Stephen checked her again for residual malignant energies and found her clear for the third time. So, he sent her back to the dorm in Kamar-Taj.

“Are you sure, Stephen? Shouldn’t I stay with you? It’s not safe to be alone like this. The demon could attack you again any minute now.”

“It’s a cat, America. And although I appreciate your concern, your respect would be more welcome in this case.”

“Notice how I’m not speaking in Spanish. Out of respect to you and your ignorance.”

“Your consideration fills me with awe.”

“And gratitude?”

“No, para nada.”

America laughed and turned back from the Kamar-Taj Gateway for a quick hug. Stephen let her prevail. He even managed to untense a smidge.

America let go of him and seemed to hesitate a bit before speaking up. “Thank you for coming and untangling the mess I made. I only kept my control because I knew you would help me.”

“No need to thank me. But you’ll consult me before trying something innovative again, won’t you?”

“I will. I’m sorry. For being reckless. And also for getting you hurt. And releasing a demon in the Sanctum.”

“Oh, get out of here already!” Stephen grinned.

America left with a crooked smile and a small wave. Stephen made his way to the bathroom connected to his bedroom and took out a disinfectant from the medicine cabinet. The burning sensation on the right side of his face came from the three neat, parallel lines torn into his cheek. Not too deep, thankfully. But why was it always his cheeks? A mystery.

~~~

The next morning started bright and early. It was research day, finally! Stephen went to the Sanctum library to gather the next books on his list. He even made sure to put some aside for America, that fit her new interest in the holidays of this universe. He piled his bounty on his study table, brought snacks and tea, set up additional alarms on top of the usual ones, and dove in.

During the day, whenever he resurfaced, he heard unfamiliar sounds, reminiscent of the patter of paws, claws clicking and scratching. To stretch his legs, he went into the kitchen to prepare more tea by hand and was greeted by a strong, unfamiliar odor. Splendid. Hopefully, the thing didn’t mark up his scant supplies.

The food was untampered with, but a quick check on the astral critter population showed a decrease in the bigger ones. That was all right by Stephen—he wasn’t enamored with the vampiric blobs and the book-eating giant insects anyway. What he also wasn’t fond of though were the remains of the critters (some venomous fangs and spindly, barbed legs) he found under his study table.

The scratches on the chair legs didn’t faze him: the Sanctum had some excellent self-healing furniture, and should it prove reticent, Stephen had some mending spells he wanted to try. They would be a good choice to teach America next time as well. It could keep her occupied and out of trouble.

All in all, the cat was doing cat things. And yes, it was a cat in every way that mattered. Stephen knew cats. He had grown up with several cats—barn cats, to be precise—until he left his family, and with it, his childhood behind. They had practically raised him in many ways. Stephen was aware that this statement, should he share it, invited jokes—how, even if he wasn’t raised by wolves but by cats, it still explained a lot about him. But the barn cats were very well socialized.

In the afternoon, the event Stephen had felt was inevitably coming but had deliberately kept out of his mind occurred: a visit from Wong.

“Are those empty plates beside the Tome of Crystal Foci?” Wong asked.

Stephen made a quick gesture to send the plates to the kitchen and turned a composed face toward Wong, calm as they come.

“Wong! A fine day to visit. What can I do for you?” There was no need to address the pertinent topic any sooner than necessary.

“America says you are harboring a dangerous shadow demon in the Sanctum.” Ah, leave it to Wong to get straight to the crux of the matter without any polite nonsense. He also looked pretty harried, if Stephen was honest. His usually impeccably tied belts were a bit loose, and his hair was standing up more than usual. But he wouldn’t thank Stephen for going easy on him, now would he?

“Harboring? Her exact words, I’m sure.” Maintain a poker face. There was nothing extraordinary here.

“You also didn’t really chastise her for the unsupervised experimentation.”

“That also sounds like something America would say. ‘Stephen didn’t chastise me, Wong, please go and chastise him.’ Very likely.”

“No, she used more colorful expressions and less insolence. Look, Stephen. America feels very guilty. And she’s also worried about you.”

“That kid has a terrible sense for what constitutes danger.”

“You are one to talk. What she described is dangerous, Stephen. Let’s not speak about how you left America to her own devices—”

“—I had been assigned to ghost hunting!—” yelped Stephen. How unjust was it to double-schedule him and make it out to be his fault!

“—and let’s only evaluate the summoned entity. Made up of shadows, obviously a predator—”

“It’s a cat!” Stephen threw in, exasperatedly.

“Regardless of its cat-like shape, the Harridan Rites work with demonic energies. As you well know. Don’t make this face at me. This face contains bloody marks, Stephen, not very effective to convince me the entity is harmless.”

“I never claimed it was harmless. But it isn’t all that dangerous either. The Sanctum would know; I would know. It’s been hunting the letter bugs. You of all people would appreciate that, wouldn’t you?”

“So, it’s killing already?”

“Bugs! And such like! Come on, Wong.”

“…Such like. I see. We’ll have the next magical extermination seminar in the New York Sanctum, it looks like.”

“No! Not a seminar! I’ll catch it and show it to you, all right? Nobody else needs to be inconvenienced!” Stephen rushed out. He sat up very straight and proper, every bit the responsible sorcerer and Sanctum Master.

Wong stared at him blankly. Then he seemed to crumple. He sighed and sat down, pulling out one of Stephen’s teacups from its hiding place behind a grimoire and drinking all its contents in one big gulp.

“Stephen, I’m not doing this to torture you.”

“I know.”

“I’m worried. And rightfully so.”

“I know. You don’t need to be, but I know, and I’ll do my due diligence. Honestly.”

“Before Samhain? Shadows grow stronger and stronger in this area until then, you know that as well.”

“No worries, Wong. I know cats and also shadows.”

~~~

Stephen knew cats and also shadows. He obviously didn’t know shadow cats of the demonic variety. The creature evaded every last attempt to capture it. Traps were left unsprung. Stakeouts were unsuccessful. He only caught sight of it a handful of times, as it darted from dark corners to other secluded places. It seemed to grow in size at a steady rate. On one memorable occasion, it appeared from under his bed after he had spent every free minute searching for it and desperately needed a power nap. It blended into the shadows of his bedside table and vanished. Stephen had to work through his adrenaline response with some extra breathing exercises.

Sadly, the Cloak was performing below their usual level of competence. They were more diligent in helping Stephen with his manual dexterity exercises than in assisting during the hunt. Novices were forbidden to come and help out for the time being, because of the supposed danger. Everyone above their rank was busier than ever, as this period fell between mystically significant times that various cultures associated with the harvest and the border between life and death. Stephen was alone with this task, and he was getting a bit miffed.

~~~

Stephen woke with a start in the middle of the night. Luminescent eyes greeted him so close to his face that he had difficulty focusing. He lurched into motion, clapped his hands, and snapped out glowing tendrils from between them—only for them to trail uselessly in the darkness of his bedroom. With a wave of his hand, the candles flared up, their light revealing the cat sitting in the open doorway. Its shape was blurred by the shadowy mist swirling around it. The creature had grown even larger, now about the size of a panther. Not that size mattered in these things.

To Stephen, it still appeared to be a cat, with pointed ears like black flames and yellow eyes. Its sharp black teeth were permanently on display though, as it had no lips to draw back. The mist reminded Stephen of swishing tails and seemed to express an almost palpable disdain.

It blinked slowly. Stephen blinked back to communicate friendliness. It turned around, looking back at him, its expectant attitude clear despite its smoky shape and perpetually menacing face.

“Don’t tell me there’s a little Timmy somewhere. With a well… Or did you perhaps prepare a mousetrap for me?” Not expecting an answer, Stephen stood up, spelled his sorcerer’s garb on, and stepped out into the corridor after the cat.

The Sanctum was silent, and no suspicious movement in the mystical energies caught Stephen’s attention. The cat, as was its wont, dissolved into the shadows. Still, something was afoot. Stephen decided to visit the Observation Room again, where several wards were anchored for easier monitoring. He turned left, and after just a few steps, the cat's form coalesced before him, blocking the width of the corridor imperiously and forbidding him to go any further. A low hiss served as a warning.

“I don’t take orders from a cat.”

The hiss grew into a distinctly uncatlike, unearthly sound, as if it were rattling from many throats, with higher tones mixed in. The rattling and whistling reminded Stephen of the old teakettle his college roommate had. Its faulty valve had produced a very similar sound. That kettle had been a health hazard, just like this cat.

Stephen took a few steps backward, keeping his eyes on the aggravating beast. The rattling shifted into hissing before fading into silence. After a few tense moments, he decided to collect more data on the cat’s behavior. He turned around and began to walk away, ready to duck at a moment’s notice. The cat glided past him, somehow using both the walls and the floor, which unsettled him even more. It stopped at the end of the corridor, blinked at him again, and slipped around the corner.

After a few false turns, guided by the cat, Stephen finally stepped into the foyer. The Cloak came hurtling from one of the side passages and settled onto his shoulders.

“Now you show up? Where have you been? Sniffing at the laundry again?”

The Cloak slapped his calf, clearly not appreciating his humor.

Stephen peered suspiciously down the stairs into the corridor leading to the Kamar-Taj Gateway, where a wisp of dark mist was just seeping away. He then lifted into the air and slowly descended.

He had barely touched down before the Gateway activated. The double doors beyond its surface swung open, revealing a crowd of people on the other side, all clad in gray and white. They moved frantically and in a disorganized manner, jostling one another as they backed away from something out of Stephen's sight. Though the general clamor was muted, their sense of urgency was unmistakable.

One person from the crowd stepped up to the door frame and locked eyes with Stephen. It was America, both a relief and a cause for the worry already churning in Stephen’s gut to intensify. She shouted to the others, prompting them to move toward the Gateway. At first, only the nearest two responded; then the Novices further back in the Hall of Agamotto’s Orb turned and hurried through to Stephen. They brought with them frantic energy, panicked shouting, and the acrid smell of fire and smoke.

Stephen flattened himself against the wall and raised his voice over the cacophony: “Go on through! Step out into the foyer! No need to shove each other, but make space!”

The people seemed to listen, their panic lessening, though the cramped corridor was slow to empty. America was the last to run through, having waved the others forward. She hastily described a fire of unknown origin laying waste to the practice courtyard, the novices' dorms, and the refectory, seemingly burning stone and wood alike. Its strength and unpredictability both made Stephen suspect a magical source.

“What about the others?” Stephen glanced at the still-open Gateway, keenly aware of the ongoing threat. He saw no movement, only thickening smoke. The refugees slowly shuffled along in the relative safety of the Sanctum corridor.

It turned out that the few Apprentices who were supposed to keep an eye on the Novices in the morning were unaccounted for. As far as America knew, everyone else had left Kamar Taj on missions. She and a few others tried to round up everyone they could, but some must have fled into Kathmandu, and the smoke and heat prevented her group from going after them. Few of them had sling rings, and those didn’t seem to work, so they retreated to the permanent gateways instead. At first, all three were locked, but then the one to New York opened, and here they were. Stephen’s stomach clenched at her words. He wanted to step through himself to help, but leaving the refugees alone would be irresponsible and… The decision was taken away from him as the Gateway closed and didn’t open at his prodding. It was locked.

Swallowing a sense of trepidation, Stephen clapped America on the shoulder, muttered a ‘Good job!’, and sent her to guide the novices from the foyer to a conference room to evaluate injuries. As he moved to herd the remaining refugees further into the Sanctum, he was suddenly forced to a halt: the shadow cat had dropped down from the ceiling. It let out an eerie shriek, making the earlier rattling sound seem like a calming melody in comparison. In an instant, the cat’s shadowy form filled the narrow passage to safety, completely blocking the way. The Sanctum behind it was shrouded in darkness. Only two stragglers remained with Stephen, trapped between the Gateway and the shadow creature.

Stephen didn’t hesitate. He leapt forward, wedging himself between the cat and the two Novices—a young boy and a middle-aged woman in heavily singed practice robes. Both looked terrified beyond measure, clutching each other’s hands tightly.

Stephen spread his arms wide, ensuring the Novices remained safely behind his back.

“What’s the matter with you? Let us through now! There’s no need for violence,” Stephen rasped, his throat raw from the bitter smoke that had clung to the refugees. While he intended to stall, he also conjured his shields.

But the creature wasn’t interested in his reasoning or his measly protection. It flowed around him, seeping into his robes, into his skin. His breath hitched, yet the terror he should have felt was muted, as if behind a heavy curtain. Was the creature suppressing his natural emotional responses? He tried to clench his hands, to no avail. It was definitely affecting his motor control. His cognitive functions—his ability to think—seemed to remain his own.

Abruptly, the shadows turned his body, and he found himself now facing the boy and the woman. He saw the smoky shadow waft from his mouth and his nose, and swirl in the hollows of his eyes. An incongruous thought struck him, trying to elicit an inappropriate laugh but not succeeding: what a spooky apparition he must be now, with shadows pooling over his eyes—America’s shadow decoration taken to the extreme. His determination didn’t waver. As long as he had control over his mind, he retained some control over his magic. He would not succumb to this creature. He would not harm his charges.

Suddenly, and bloodcurdlingly, the third eye in the middle of his forehead burst open unexpectedly, shattering his illusion of control. The drab, ashen-faced figures before him turned into a bonfire of roiling colors—forest green and dirty blue for both of them, with pale yellow in addition for the woman.

Then he saw it. Both feet of the boy and the sole of the woman's left foot were a disturbing red, with drips traveling upward, glowing like embers and consuming the colors surrounding their bodies. They must have come into contact with something malicious and highly dangerous. Maybe they had tripped into the magical cause of the fire.

“Step out of your shoes and step back,” he growled. It seemed the creature was relinquishing at least some control back to him.

The boy obeyed instantly, stepping on his own heel to kick off his trainers while tugging on the hand of the woman—his sister, or maybe mother. His trembling was evident even through Stephen’s altered vision. Finally, she broke free from her stupor and did the same. They both backed away hastily.

The redness stayed with the shoes. Good. Now something to contain it, and quickly. Stephen lifted his arms of his own volition and slapped the Cage of Dorian—a half-sphere of amber light—over the shoes. It was a fruitless endeavor. The red glow grew, shattered Stephen’s hold, and formed into a monster shrouded in flame lunging at him. He grabbed his Cloak, sent them to rescue the novices trapped behind the creature, and conjured his Eldritch Blade in a smooth motion.

The shadow cat left his body with a throaty rumble, snapping his third eye shut again.

The whoosh of displacement tugged Stephen forward and to the side, giving the creature one last chance to exert control over his body. He let the movement carry him to the corridor’s wall and slashed his blade upward in a controlled arc.

The fire monster sent a whip of flames after him, the weapon's tendrils writhing like living things. Stephen ducked and continued his swing. His blade tore a gash into the monster's blackened wing. It threw its head to the side, its twisted horn barely missing Stephen’s shoulder.

The shadow cat sprang at the fire monster’s back, then lost its catlike form completely, twisted around its torso, and squeezed in a clear attempt to fight it. Though it was unable to douse the flames, it provided a few precious seconds for the Cloak to abscond with the novices and for Stephen to seal the corridor behind them. Turning back to look into the fire being’s eyes, which burned with ancient, malevolent intelligence, Stephen knew this might be his last fight. He only hoped he could buy enough time for the others to find help.

~~~

Fighting in close quarters was not Stephen’s greatest strength. It was more luck than design that enabled him to keep the monster from burning him to cinders. The minutes stretched out painfully, and he struggled to keep his footing. He managed to slice off one of its horns, destroy its whips, and reduce the heat it emanated enough that the floor beneath its feet was no longer melting. But he had reached his limit, and the monster wasn’t slowing down or weakening at all. The flames that enveloped its body were still deadly.

Despite his small victories, Stephen was still losing, and he knew he couldn't hold on much longer. He forced down the familiar sense of dread.

The shadow, diminished in size by now, threw itself with abandon against the intruder again and again. It managed to latch on to its maw, occupying its attention, and Stephen retreated a few steps, his breath coming in short gasps.

The heat was unbearable, and the air was probably thinner than was healthy for Stephen. Normal flames would have already grown smaller due to a lack of oxygen… probably. But these weren’t normal flames.

There was a thought, though! If Stephen could find the mystical equivalent of the oxygen the monster’s fire needed and block it... By lowering the flames or even extinguishing them, the monster could become vulnerable. He felt his resolve strengthen.

The idea barely took form in Stephen’s mind before the monster tore the shadow into pieces, leaving him no more time to plan. He threw everything he could think of at the snarling face coming for him, trying to smother the flames. He conjured various liquids—or rather, summoned them from the Sanctum's hidden storages. He coated it with the shimmering dust that fell from one of the relics originating from Egypt, said to interfere with connections to several dimensions. Nothing helped.

In his desperation, there was only one last thing he could think of: use up everything, like drawing out the air from the area or igniting a backfire would do in the case of a normal fire. He vaulted into the corner at the Kamar-Taj Gateway, cupped his hand, and called up the Dissolution Matrix. He hurtled it at the monster’s back.

The Matrix opened up like a bloom, transforming everything it could in the small room. It sucked up every kind of energy Stephen had inscribed in it—including the ambient radiation of his life force. The implications were clear: he would lose consciousness, and soon.

The flames on the monster’s limbs were the first to flicker and die. It thrashed about, thumping against the walls and roaring as if in pain. Stephen squeezed himself further into the corner to avoid its flailing, protecting his head with his arms.

The last thing Stephen saw before losing consciousness was the final flames extinguishing on the monster’s head, a small shadow tearing into its writhing form through its howling maw, exiting through its nape and then dispersing into nothing, and the Matrix erupting into blue butterflies.

~~~

There was a commotion outside his door. Stephen sat cross-legged on his bed, eyeing his lightly twitching hands. His left one was burned. He seriously contemplated numbing it from the elbow down—but that was just him whining. The damage was superficial.

He sighed heavily, only to regret it when the movement tugged at the bandages over his shoulder. Burns there as well. The whole room reeked of the burn salve America had generously swathed on him before another novice covered his wounds with sterile dressing and gauze. At least none of the burns were serious enough to require a hospital visit.

The commotion became too loud to ignore, so Stephen slid his legs over the side of the bed, though he didn't get up. After awakening among the rubble from the fight, he had activated the Gateway to Kamar-Taj—thankfully, it worked again. He had unsealed the corridor, let America drag him into the foyer, opened portals to the other Sanctums, checked in with the Masters, asked for aid, and finally given in to the novices' pleading, allowing them to provide medical aid. Only then had he left America in charge, assigning the Cloak as her second in command, and taken shelter in his room. There were too many people in the Sanctum.

Sitting on the edge of his bed, wishing hard that whatever it was would just go away, he felt his shoulders droop in relief when Wong stepped in.

“Wong! You are taking care of the novices, aren’t you?”

“The novices are well and are happily exploring the Sanctum,” Wong said matter-of-factly.

“You're a true comedian, Wong. I hope they keep to the approved areas.” The Sanctum wasn’t alerting Stephen to anything alarming, but it was also occupied with repairs. Who knew what could slip under the radar, so to speak.

“America is riding herd over them,” Wong said as he pulled an armchair across from Stephen and sat down.

“Good. What happened in Kamar-Taj? Where did the real-life version of a stunted Balrog come from?”

Wong grimaced and rubbed a hand over his already spiky hair. “Remnants of chaos energy, hidden in a mirror, all this time. After getting out, it spread quickly, and it warped the dimensional energies enough to prevent travel. We don’t know yet what managed to overcome its influence long enough to open the way here. It could have been your presence. But it prevented casualties, thank the Vishanti. The loss is already great enough. A lot of what we had barely rebuilt is destroyed or marred beyond use.”

Stephen didn’t know what to say. There was probably nothing that could be said. He could, however, distract Wong from his woes for a bit. “You know, the shadow cat you all have been so suspicious of? It warned us. It also fought for us, to its own detriment. It killed the chaos entity in the end and then vanished.”

“I heard it from America and Ms. Shaiwan. What happened after you sealed yourself in, Stephen?”

Stephen made a laconic report in the original sense. He began with the wake-up call from the cat, summarized the situation, listed what worked and what didn’t against the chaos entity, and gave a brief roundup of the injuries and lost resources in the New York Sanctum.

“This method of yours deserves further investigation, but well done.” This was a rare word of almost-praise from Wong. “I've been thinking about your shadow cat as well, Stephen. I looked up a few things about the original spell constellation. It required some key components that America had left out, and I suspect it got them from you. You gave form to the shadow entity she had called up.”

“Sounds plausible.”

Wong allowed a small smile to show. “It imprinted on you. Looks like you have catlike tendencies.”

“Of course I have them. Anyone with healthy boundaries should.” Cats were very assertive creatures in Stephen’s experience.

“Luckily for us, you’ve also internalized the role of a protector. That’s why you shaped a protector-cat shadow being.”

“It’s more likely that it imprinted on me at the moment of its embodiment, when the main purpose in my mind was to protect America and the Sanctum,” Stephen said dryly.

“That works as well.” Wong stood up, stretched his back, and groaned. “Now, use your time to convalesce, Stephen. Light duty.” He stopped before opening the door and turned a suspiciously satisfied expression toward Stephen. “Only taking care of yourself and your novices. It’ll take time to rebuild again; we need to clean more rigorously, it seems.”

“My novices? Wong!”

Wong quickly pulled the door shut behind him. Stephen huffed. The audacity!

Everything was blessedly silent again. He looked down and wiggled his toes. And if there was a small wisp of shadow weaving in and out between his legs on the floor, nobody needed to know, did they?

[faithinhome]

brave. stephen strange x female reader. (one shot).

summary: stephen shows up when you need him.

tags: street harassment, strong language.

a/n: this one shot’s kinda self-indulgent. let’s just say i wrote it to cope with something. i wanted to post it on here in case it resonates with someone else too. i tagged people that i tag on my nnd fic because i wasn’t sure if you guys wanted to be informed for other fics too! i understand this fic is based on something very specific, so please don’t feel pressured to read just because you’re tagged!

you couldn’t believe stephen had managed to piss you off this much.

god, he was so arrogant.

so smart, so beautiful, such an interesting person to be around.

but.

so.

fucking

arrogant.

and you couldn’t stand it.

you were just packing up your stuff in the locker room and stephen walked in behind you, quiet.

you two had just performed a surgery together and had been quiet the entire time.

the previous day, the two of you had had a small argument over something so stupid, you couldn’t even really remember it. but it had spiraled into another bigger issue.

stephen’s inability to accept defeat or that he could be wrong.

before you knew it, the argument had turned heated, with you bringing up all the times he’d been this way throughout your friendship.

you and stephen started out as friends that started hooking up. and you two were just on the verge of a somewhat relationship.

before a relationship had even had a chance to bloom, you’d had your “first fight” with him.

whatever.

you tried to convince yourself stephen was too full of himself to be a good boyfriend to you anyway.

sure, he was charming. and he did care. he looked after you. and he was strong. he was so…he was so fucking beautiful too. and he was definitely the best man you’d ever slept with in your entire life.

no.

you tried to push the thoughts away, you were getting distracted and swayed away.

you were going to wait for stephen to apologize.

maybe, he’d do it right now? maybe he’d admit to his faults and you guys could go back to building a foundation together, to be with each other.

but you just heard a locker door shut and footsteps fading away.

you turned to find that he had left.

you just sighed to yourself and hurriedly packed your things, closing the locker.

sure, stephen was stubborn. but you were even more stubborn. and you weren’t going to budge, no matter what.

you pulled on your jacket and began walking out of the building, sighing as you anticipated a long transit ride home.

you’d just left the driveway and had taken to the sidewalk, when you heard a car on the road honk behind you.

you turned to find a black car behind you, squinting as the headlights blinded your eyes. it came up beside you and the window rolled down.

a man that you’d never seen before flashed you a smile. “hey, sweetheart. all alone tonight?”

your heart began to thump in your chest, and it felt like it was in your throat. you turned away and clutched your bag tighter, starting to walk faster but the car caught up.

“want a ride, baby? you shouldn’t be out here all alone at night.”

yeah, because of assholes like you.

“oh come now, don’t be shy” the man pushed.

tears stung at your eyes. you didn’t know what to do. should you respond? should you ask him to fuck off? or should you keep quiet for the sake of your own safety and hope that he gives up eventually?

just as fear and anxiety were starting to take over, clouding your thoughts and making it hard to breathe, you heard a bump and the car next to you was lightly struck.

your breath hitched and you turned, watching stephen strange emerge out of the driver’s seat of the car that came to a halt after bumping into the creep’s vehicle.

“hey, what the fuck, man?” the creep screamed, sticking his head out of the window to see who it was.

“is there a problem here?” stephen asked, his forehead creased, as he looked between you two.

his eyes glued to you for a few moments, scanning you, as if he was assessing your current condition.

“yeah, buddy, you just hit my fucking car.” the man got out of the vehicle, staring daggers at stephen.

you gasped, your heart beat rising and breathing growing shallower.

“stephen” you whispered, walking up to him and grabbing his shirt, fear climbing up to your throat.

stephen extended an arm in front of you, gently nudging you behind him. but your grip never left his shirt. you didn’t want stephen to get hurt.

“i saw you were bothering my girl over here, and i thought i should come put you in your place.” he spat angrily.

my girl.

“so that little slut is your girl? and why do you think i give a fuck?” the man laughed.

stephen’s eyes darkened, his jaw clenching. you could see the nerve pop in his head as he swallowed, stepping closer to the man, staring down at him. “who the fuck do you think you’re talking about? say that about her again and i’ll break your fucking jaw.”

the creep looked up at stephen, trying to keep his chest broad, even though you could notice a hint of fear in his face. “well, your girl shouldn’t have been walking around looking like that if she didn’t want attention.”

within a split second, stephen had the man’s face in his right hand as he jerked him closer and the man cowered in fear. “maybe men like you shouldn’t be allowed to walk freely on the streets. maybe you should be locked up forever.”

stephen let go of the man, clicking his tongue and pretending to have had an epiphany.

“actually, i could get you locked up.”

the man now cowered in fear, his eyes widening.

“do you know who i am?” strange continued, his voice deepening further, if that was even possible. “i know absolutely everyone. i could have you locked up, beaten down to a fucking pulp. come after my girl again and i will fucking destroy you. understood?”

the man swallowed, looking between the two, “i-i-“

“i said, is. that. understood?”

stephen sounded really mad. you’d never seen him this angry. you were frightened, and he was on your side.

“y-yes.” the man breathed out.

“now, apologize to my girlfriend.”

your eyes widened as you looked up at stephen, not wanting to look away and at the creep.

had he just called you his girlfriend?

the man turned to you, his jaw clenching. “i- i’m, uh-”

he was clearly hesitating with his apology. you had a feeling he’d never really apologized to a woman before.

“on your knees” stephen interrupted, his voice gruff and impatient.

“what?”

“get on your knees and apologize. and really try to beg for her forgiveness.” stephen dragged that sentence out long and slow, trying to absolutely crush the man’s self-esteem.

a small smile appeared on your face and you looked over at the man who looked like he would rather jump off a building.

but he cowered under stephen’s stare and took a big sigh, getting on his knees. “i-i’m sorry.”

you looked at the guy and back up at stephen, not really sure what to do.

“i said, beg for her forgiveness. that’s not a whole lot begging.” stephen spat.

“i’m -i’m sorry” the man stammered, clearly trying to force himself into doing this. “please-forgive me.”

he looked up at stephen who gave him a disapproving look.

“more” stephen barked and the man turned to look at you, meeting your eyes this time, even just for a few moments.

“i’m really sorry” the creep said, his voice smaller. “please forgive me. please. i regret behaving the way that i did. i was- i was a total asshole. a total pig for treating you the way i did. i’m so sorry.”

you looked down at the man, who wasn’t even able to look you in the eye, when not too long ago, he was staring you down like he had all power over you.

this right here, this felt good. this felt right.

“good” stephen leant in and heaved the guy up, grabbing his shirt by the collar and pulling him closer. “i better not fucking see you around here, or around my girl, ever again. do you understand?”

“yes. sorry.”

stephen clicked his tongue and shook his head in disapproval “you’re apologizing to the wrong person.” he pointed at you and the man apologized again, while all you could do was quietly watch all that was unfolding in front of you.

stephen let the man go with a slight shove. “leave before i change my mind and decide to break your legs this very second.”

the man scurried back inside his car. it was so evident on his face that his ego was absolutely shattered. he looked like he was almost in a state of shock.

which frankly, so were you.

stephen watched the man drive off, reaching back to touch your arm lightly.

he turned and his concerned eyes searched your face, subtle sadness weaving through his face.

“y/n, a-are you okay?” he asked, his voice now soft and gentle.

you still couldn’t speak. all you could do was stare up at stephen, still coming down from the fear you’d felt earlier.

“y/n?” stephen stepped closer, concerned that you weren’t saying anything. he reached out to cup your face, eyes searching yours. “please say something.”

your felt shivers run along your skin as stephen touched you, tears threatening to well up in your eyes as you watched the way stephen watched you with such care, gentleness and concern.

“i-i’m okay, stephen. thank you,” you managed to say.

“i’m so sorry that happened to you. he didn’t hurt you, did he?”

you smiled softly, bringing a hand up to place over stephen’s, a tear falling down your cheek as you shook your head. “how could he? you were right here.”

stephen shook his head, trying to brush your tear off with his thumb. “oh baby, please don’t cry. i’m sorry. i’ll always be here. i’ll always protect you, y/n.”

baby.

“you h-helped me,” it took a lot for you to look into stephen’s eyes and speak without bursting into tears. “even though we were fighting.”

“no, that doesn’t matter, it never will.” stephen shook his head. “i’ll always protect you, okay? no matter what. and i’m sorry. i’m so sorry about everything. i should’ve been here. but i’m here now, okay?”

you smiled and nodded, hesitating before leaning up to peck stephen’s lips, smiling wider when he blushed.

“thank you, stephen. you were so…so brave.”

“anything for you” stephen smiled, leaning in to place a kiss on your forehead. “and i’m driving you to and from work now, okay?”

“no, stephen, it’s okay-“

“nope, i don’t want to hear it.” stephen shook his head, his voice firm. “i’ll keep you safe, okay? you don’t have to worry anymore.”

you closed your eyes, letting out a soft sigh.

you loved being independent, holding down your own fort. but this. this felt amazing in its own right. having someone care for you, someone that cared for your well-being. someone that wanted to protect you and make sure you were okay. you just wanted to surrender to this affection, you wanted to allow this comfort.

“thank you.”

“you deserve it” stephen smiled, reaching down to hold your hand. “let’s go.”

you looked up at him as he led you to his car, unable to wipe the smile off your face.

maybe he’s right, you thought to yourself. maybe i do deserve it.

…

TAGLIST

@kentucky-criedfricken @sherlux @evelynrosestuff @thewinterpoet2 @lokislov3 @0p444ls @nabiiturner @withalittlehoney @lokiego @cemak @chocokitty @whore4sherlockholmes

[kuroecchy]

the pic in the list are not mine, I just found the pics from pinterest

English is not my first language and no beta.

fair warning the theme i chose for my october prompts are completly randome so I have nothing planned for any of them.

Day 2 - Guardian

It started after that fight. Tony was sure it was gonna hit him, he had no time to dodge. So when he closed his eyes, reading himself for the upcoming pain… Well, let's just say he was confused when nothing happened.

When he opened his eyes expecting to see something, anything. There was nothing. It’s as if there was nothing aimed at him in the first place.

Dumbfounded, Tony flew down from the sky and dismissed it as him being tired.

After that his luck seems to take a nosedive but somehow he always ends up fine.

The day after that incident, Rhodey had invited him to go on a jog.

They ran around the park. It was rather uneventful; it was a simple jog while talking about random things.

What was eventful was when they were on their way back. They decided to buy some food first at the other side of the road.

They of course waited until the stop sign turned green to cross the road but a car who had not hit their break fast enough skidded to them.

They raised their hands to their face (or at least the engineer did) in a futile attempt to protect themselves.

But then… the noise of the car was behind them. Tony quickly looked and the car that had been about to hit them was now behind them driving away.

The hero once again felt dumbfounded.

He looked at his best friend only to be given a shrug.

There was nothing he could do about it if Rhodey didn't see it there's no point thinking it over. Unless he (JARVIS) hack into the security cameras.

So he dismissed it once more.

After that, strange things kept on happening.

At first it was simple things such as when he fell asleep at his workbench he would wake up with a blanket on top of him.

He has asked as unlikely as it is, whether Pepper of Rhodey had been the one who had done it (Pepper would simply wake him up and get him to his own bed, Rhodey would do a similar thing).

They both had said no. Although for some reason the female had this knowing glint in her eyes when he asked. He decided not to ask about it.

Then it started to escalate into more suspicious things. For example, he had spilled coffee on his desk so he went out to get it cleaned only to come back with it already cleaned.

He asked JARVIS about it and his AI had simply responded with it disappearing on its own.

After that Tony has a suspicion on what's been happening around him lately. And because of said suspicions he decided on letting it be for now.

It was 2 weeks later (2 weeks of bad luck and needing someone to save him) that he finally saw it with his own eyes.

It was late at night at the tower. He had been awake for more than 48 hours. The only rest he took were small power naps (He had fallen asleep for a few minutes before forcing himself to wake up).

So it wasn’t really a surprise when he had started to stumble around the penthouse half asleep searching for the coffee machine (or was he searching for food?).

He forgot that he had some electronics that he hadn’t cleaned up from last time he was tinkering with them in the common room. So of course his brain that's been running on nothing but his will power decided that it was too much to notice them in front of him.

He tripped.

Honestly at this point, the sleep deprived man was welcoming the floor, ready to fall asleep on the cold floor.

Instead he fell onto the open arms of a tall man. The hold was strong. Well maybe not the grip but the way the arm hugged tight on to him his body relaxed on their hold.

The engineer’s brain tried hard to think about who the mystery person was, he didn’t have the energy to look up to the other’s face.

So tired at first, the other was wearing fabric that’s hard to the skin and he could feel the slight tremors from the other’s hands.

The next thing he noticed was the smell, the man (he’s pretty sure that they are a man at this point) Had the smell of incense clinging to his clothing and the aroma or calming tea mixed with it.

Tony knew that based on these descriptions he’s supposed to already be able to already guess who his savior is but his brain simply didn’t want to give him the answer.

It took a familiar baritone voice for him to realize who it was, “I think It’s time to go to bed.”

He could hear the fond smile coming from each of those words.

He smiled on the others arms and muffled, “Stranger danger.”

The sorcerer huffed and decided to teleport them to his room. He put the smaller man down on the bed and spoke fondly, “Alright, off to bet with you.”

“You're no fun, Stephen.” he pouted but otherwise did as told. He crawled up to the middle of the bed and positioned himself comfortably.

Stephen had chosen to sit by the foot of Tony’s bed to make sure the other actually slept.

Tony on the other hand had started to drift off.

“Guess you’re the one that’s been protecting me…” he mumbled

“My own secret guardian…” and with that Tony went to the world of dreams, leaving Stephen a blushing mess on the foot of his bed.

~ The End ~

did i write this instead of sleeping? yes i did

apologies for any mistakes im supposed to be asleep when i was writing this

[hithertoundreamtof23]

Whumptober 2023 Day 30

Prompt- Bridal Carry | "Not Much Longer"

When America Chavez gets hurt during a mission, it's up to Stephen to carry her to safety.

Only one more day of Whumptober!! This month has gone fast!

Whumptober Masterlist

[hayanwulf]

Ironstrange but make it from the movie 'Splash' (With Stephen as Tom Hank's character Allen Bauer and Tony as Madison?)

I am in love with my mermaid boy now.

Stephen stepped out to the deck of the yacht, closing his eyes and inhaling the fresh, crisp air of the sea.

Exhaling the breath, he stepped closer to the ledge, resting his hands over the metallic railing that looked out at an endless expanse of water under a night sky adorned with a thousand stars that glimmered like jewels, the soothing acoustic of waves crashing over each other and against their yacht being the only audible sound.

It was a breath of fresh air — literally — compared to the bustling, crowded city of New York, where you’d spot a twinkling star or two only on the luckiest of nights, where the air always smelled stale and noise followed you wherever you went.

Stephen didn’t really do ‘vacations’, never had time for such indulgences, what with giving utmost priority to his career as a doctor. But Donna had wanted this, had wanted to escape their busy life at the city without being reminded of any of the ache and associations to their past. And so Stephen had rented this yacht and hired a crew for a week, just for the two of them.

As he closed his eyes and relaxed against the railing, feeling the cool air melt away all the tension from his shoulders, he thought that maybe it wasn’t too bad to take a vacation every once in a while.

There was a barely audible, yet distinct sound of a splash in the water, prompting Stephen to open his eyes and look down at the source.

He frowned when his eyes caught.. something shiny right below the surface of the dark water for a second, but it immediately disappeared into the depths, the darkness of night only hindering his sight further.

Stephen scanned his eyes over the waters, wondering if he could manage to spot whatever it was again. He knew that this place was a hotspot for dolphins, but dolphins never traveled alone, so it couldn’t be that. Unless it was a lonely dolphin, which might indicate that it was hurt or lost.

And then he spotted it again — further towards the back of the yacht, the very end of a fin flicked through the water, flirting with the surface but not quite revealing itself.

A shiny, golden fin.

He was sure that it was golden. It had to be.

But it didn’t make sense. No fishes or mammals of that size were supposed to have such a golden, shiny fin. At least as far as Stephen knew, and he knew a lot.

What he’d just seen.. it was unnatural.

Wanting to catch another glimpse of the thing, Stephen walked down the deck towards the back of the yacht, eyes vigilantly scanning through the waters, wanting to see that creature, wanting to know what it was.

It was hard. Mostly all he could see was the darkness of water, the crests of waves reflecting back the light sources from their yacht. He strained his eyes, trying to peer inside the water.

And — there it was, the shadow of a large creature under the water, just barely visible with the water already being so dark. It lingered there, never peeking even an inch out of the surface, and Stephen found himself drawn to it, wishing that it surfaced, wanting to see more, and his steps continued along the railing by themself, then down the stairs of the stern, moving right along the unprotected edge of the swimming platform as he chased after the thing, never lifting his eyes from it. And then—

When he finally realized how far he had walked off, one of his feet was no longer on the yacht’s platform.

He yelped in surprise as he tried to bring his footing back to the platform, overbalanced, and fell sideways into water. 

An ice-cold spasm of pain shot up his side which had hit the water, the teeth-clattering cold sensation immediately spreading to his entire body as he got surrounded by water. Only practice prevented him from trying to breathe and hence accidentally filling up his lungs with water. You need to get out, a small rational part of his mind managed to command him while the rest of him still struggled to overcome the shock of being suddenly drenched in cold water at night.

But.. where is surface?

His heart fell to his stomach, suddenly feeling like all of his remaining oxygen had been sucked out as he frantically looked around and realized, all he saw was darkness.

No, don’t panic. This was fine, he would reorient his sense of gravity in just a second and then he’d find his way back up.

Except, the water moved in uncoordinated waves, crashing into him, pushing and pulling him in all directions.

He couldn’t tell which way was up.

Panic surged through him as he tried to determine which way he was supposed to go, feeling his heart quicken with each moment that he stayed under the surface, hyper aware of how it drained his oxygen just that much faster.

He couldn’t. He needed to breathe. Reflex forced his lungs to suck in a breath, coughing when all that entered his mouth was water.

No. No!

Basic survival instincts kicked in, causing him to flail his limbs as he tried to reach the surface, still having no idea which was the right way.

He needed to get out. He needed to get back to Donna. He couldn’t die, not here, not like this.

He needed to.. get out..

As he fought the pull of unconsciousness, the last thing he saw was the shadow of a vaguely human body, and a beautiful, long tail that shone red and gold.

When Stephen came to, the first thing he registered was an unfamiliar voice talking away in the background.

“..m sure he’ll be fine, I mean he’s breathing alright.”

Stephen blearily blinked his eyes open, realizing his back was lying on a bed of wet sand. He turned to his side and immediately coughed, throwing up some sea water.

“Yeah. Oh look, now he’s awake too.”

Stephen heaved a couple of breaths as his mind came back online. A shiver came over his entire body. It was very cold, and he was very wet. He frowned, recalling that he’d slipped off the yacht in the dumbest way possible.

‘World-renowned neurosurgeon slipped off his vacation yacht and drowned.’

Yeah, that would’ve been the most embarrassing way to die.

He craned his neck, looking up at the source of the voice to see who was his savior—

And immediately choked at the sight of a buck naked man, sitting there on the sand completely unabashed, Stephen’s phone at his ear as he talked to someone.

The man only raised an eyebrow at Stephen. “You good there?”

Stephen quickly looked away, eyes instead looking to the sea. “Y-yes, I’m fine.”

“Stephen?” The voice on the phone spoke, loud enough for Stephen to hear and perk up at the voice of his sister.

“Donna—” he sat up, turning towards the man again, before remembering, ah. He looked away again, feeling his face heat up despite the rush of cold air against his damp skin making him shiver.

His unnamed savior, thankfully, passed him the phone, which he took without turning back to the man.

“What the fuck, Stephen! Just what in the world were you doing!?”

Stephen winced. “I.. slipped.” The excuse sounded incredibly lame in his tongue.

But between that and saying I was so distracted by some imaginary sea creature that I didn’t see where I was walking, that was probably the less humiliating thing to say.

“You.. slipped.”

“Yes..”

There was silence and then a tired, exasperated sigh. “Christ, Stephen, I was terrified when we couldn’t find you in the water.”

Stephen felt a pang in his heart, imagining what she must have felt thinking that she was about to lose her last remaining family. “I’m sorry. I’m fine, sis.”

“You better stay that way. And don’t you dare move your ass from that island, we’re on our way.”

Stephen blinked, realizing for the first time that he was in some island. He twisted his neck to look around — carefully avoiding looking at the unnamed man who was still sitting near him wearing nothing, for some reason — and found that the island was small, perfect for private resorts and the like, but it was entirely abandoned with nothing but greenery visible in the tiny expanse.

“I’ll wait,” Stephen told her, turning his gaze back to the ocean in front of him.

They ended the call.

“Well, it was nice meeting you, stranger,” his unnamed savior spoke, and from the shuffling sound of skin and sand, Stephen could tell without looking that he had stood up.

He sighed. “Could you put on some clothes?”

The sound of sand shifting under feet echoed, and oh god no.

The mystery man came to deliberately stand in Stephen’s field of view, and Stephen closed his eyes with a stifled sigh. “What, you embarrassed of my naturism, Doc? I thought you guys saw naked humans all the time in your hospitals.”

Stephen looked away, opening his eyes to look out at the other dark horizon. There was no point arguing with a naked man, even less so when the said naked man had saved his life. Somehow.

“Do I at least get a name?” He instead asked the man.

He could practically hear the other man smirking. “Sure.. if you can work up the courage to look me in the eyes for longer than a second.”

Stephen suppressed a growl. It was just a bait, he shouldn’t fall for it.

“Fine then. Thank you, unnamed person who likes to walk naked in beaches, for saving my life.”

The man laughed then, a delighted, amused sound. Somehow, it sounded like a melody to Stephen’s ears, his voice simply so rich and lively, like it was made to spread joy. “You couldn’t have sounded more unthankful, dragging the words out of your throat like that, Doc.”

Too focused on the mystery man’s voice, Stephen didn’t realize when a decent-sized wave crashed into the beach, sweeping over half his body in the process. He grunted at the sensation of more water washing over his already hypothermic body.

“Ah, shit,” the man murmured, prompting Stephen to look his way and—

Stephen’s breath hitched, his heart coming to a halt for a second at the sight in front of him.

The man was down on the sand now; where his legs had been, now there existed a long, slick tail, gold scaled gleaming beautifully under the moonlight, interspersed with patterns of red and fins of indescribable elegance.

Stephen could only watch slack-jawed as the tail moved, its motion as smooth and natural as any other sea creature with fins.

For the first time, Stephen looked straight at the man’s — the creature’s — eyes, and found then to be a beautiful, warm brown, with such a depth that Stephen thought that he could be lost in them.

He was a creature of ethereal, otherworldly beauty.

“You..” Stephen whispered, finding his voice once again. “I saw you, at the deck.”

His eyes grew guarded at that, the warmth of the browns suddenly vanishing. He turned away from Stephen, towards the ocean, and flicked his tail, sending himself towards the retreating waves.

“No.. wait!” Stephen called out, but he gave no indication of hearing Stephen’s call.

Within a second, the brilliant shine of the gold scales disappeared into the depths of the water.

Stephen stood on the beach all alone, wide eyes fixated on the spot where he had seen the last shine of a golden fin.

[dazesanddoodles]

butch wong is real

[fragmentedblade]

Herta seemed to me to dislike Stephen a lot, but in their interactions in this new update she seems strangely... fond of him?

[braveclementine]

Thanos. . . Again

Warnings: None

Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. However, I do own my OC Elizabeth Lightwood. I do not condone any copying of this.

Steve heard her scream as he fell.

"ELIZABETH!" He shouted falling himself. And then he hit the ground.

"Come on buddy, gotta wake up." Tony stomped lightly on his chest and he inhaled sharply. "That's my man."

Steve sat up quickly. "ELIZABETH?"

Tony bent down, holding his shield, "You lose this again, I'm keeping it."

"Where's Elizabeth?" Steve repeated. "What happened?"

"You mess with time it tends to mess back." Tony replied. "You'll see."

Steve followed Tony, scanning for Elizabeth, for their children, for Loki's children. Finally, they found Thor, who was standing and looking.

There was Thanos, sitting in the middle of the crater.

"What's he been doing?" Tony asked.

"Absolutely nothing." Thor answered.

"Where are the stones?" Steve asked.

"Somewhere under all of this." Tony panted. "All I know is he doesn't have 'em."

"So, we keep it that way." Steve said. Suddenly, he heard Elizabeth scream. He didn't hesitate, sprinting back into the mess.

He sat her, trapped under the rubble, some sort of creature leaning over her. His shield took off its head and he helped her out from underneath. "Elizabeth?"

"Where are they?" She panicked, looking around. Only Delilah was in her arms, a small bloody scratch across her tiny forehead, "No-"

"Look at me." Steve demanded. "Focus up Princess."

Elizabeth looked at him, "Thanos is here. He has to be engaged. Can you find them and get them to a safe spot?"

"While you do what?" She asked.

"I'm going to fight him." He answered.

She looked at him and then around and nodded in determination. "Go."

He kissed her, "I love you."

"I love you too."

And he ran back to find that Tony and Thor were already getting ready to engage with Thanos.

"Let's kill him properly this time." Thor said harshly.

Thanos smiled as they approached, "You could not live with your own failure. Where did that bring you? Back to me. I thought by eliminating half of life, the other half would thrive. But you've shown me, that's impossible. And as long as there are those that remember what was, there will always be those that are unable to accept what can be. They will resist."

"Yep, we're all kinds of stubborn." Tony replied.

"I'm thankful." Thanos said. "Because now, I know what I must do." He stood. "I will shred this universe down to its last atom. And then, with the stones you've collected for me, create a new one, teeming with life, that knows not what it has lost, but only what it has been given. A grateful universe."

"Born out of blood." Steve said.

"They'll never know it." Was Thanos' reply. "Because you won't be alive to tell them."

And the three of them attacked him.

🎃 :::::  🧡  ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━  🧡  ::::: 🎃

"Astrid, wake up." Elizabeth commanded in a soothing tone, waking her daughter up from where she was laying on the stone. "I need you to wake up. You have a large task ahead of you."

"Mom?" The seven year old girl opened her eyes.

"I need you to get your siblings to safety." Elizabeth said, moving to wake her elder son up now. "You and your brother must get five little babies to safety. Can you do it?"

"Yes." They both groaned in determination. Elizabeth had made sure that they were all alive.

"Good. Follow me." She said, carrying Delilah and Rose in her arms. She moved along the pathway. She could see Thanos fighting Steve, Tony, and Thor and knew that she had to join them. "Keep following this path, go over that ridge. Follow around the edge of the lake until you reach the tree line. Stay safe. If something approaches, keep moving."

"Okay." Astrid whispered.

"Take care of your family." Elizabeth said to Halfdan. "Promise me."

"I promise. On dad." Halfdan said.

Elizabeth kissed their foreheads quickly and then murmured, "Go."

And then she turned, running down the wreckage to join her family.

She watched Steve flip and kick Thanos in the face, before Thanos tossed him away. She ran, jumping off the rock, slamming both feet into his face so he stumbled backwards, though he didn't fall.

"I know you." Thanos said as she slammed into a rock, wincing. "Loki's soulmate. . ."

"Not anymore." Elizabeth growled. "My last name is Rogers now. And you are really pissing me off." She hit him with a wave of her power so that now he really did go flying off his feet, before Thor slammed into him with his hammers.

Elizabeth rushed him again, swinging off Thanos huge blade to get her legs around his neck. He grabbed her leg, slamming her down to the ground, before placing his blade against her chest. He pulled his blade up, and then suddenly was slammed by Thor's smaller hammer, which came back to. . . Steve's hand?

"I knew it!" Thor roared, getting up from the ground himself.

Elizabeth smiled, laughing in amazement seeing him hold the shield and hammer. She watched Thanos turn on him. Steve swung the hammer, leaping off a rock, slamming Thanos in the chin with the hammer.

She got to her feet then. She watched as Steve just brutally started to defeat Thanos single handedly. Throwing the shield and hammer, hitting his shield with the hammer, and drawing up lightning through the ground. "Don't. Ever. Try. And. Stab. My. Wife. Again." Steve snarled, before calling up lightning and slamming it into Thanos.

And then suddenly Thanos was on his feet, going after Steve. Elizabeth watched, trying to find a good moment to intervene and her eyes widened in shock, watching the shield get hacked into bits.

Vibranium. . .

Like the Titanic. Unsinkable. Unbreakable.

Steve didn't get up.

"In all my years of conquest," Thanos said as she watched Steve roll over, struggling to get up. But Thanos was between the two of them and there was no way for her to get to him. "Violence, slaughter, it was never personal. But I'll tell you now, what I'm about to do to your stubborn, annoying little planet, I'm gonna enjoy it, very, very much."

Elizabeth watched as his sons and daughters were beamed down from the planet, along with an army and she felt the hopelessness rise up in her again.

Steve finally got to his feet. The two of them met eyes as he cinched the shield tighter around his arm.

The two of them started to walk towards Thanos together, now that she had skirted around the purple grape.

"Hey, Cap, you read me?" A very faint voice suddenly asked in their coms. "Cap it's Sam. Can you hear me?"

Elizabeth started to laugh.

"On your left."

Steve and Elizabeth turned to see one portal at first, T'Challa walking through with Okoye and his sister Shuri on either side of him. And Elizabeth nearly fainted as Sam came flying through. They watched as more portals were opened up.

There were the Wakanda soldiers and the spider-kid. Doctor Strange and a bunch of Magicians. The Asgardians as well, Valkyrie flying on her Pegasus.

There was Y/N, sprinting through with a smile on her face and. . . Bucky.

Scott chose that time to break through the ruins, holding Rhodey, Bruce, and Rocket in his hand.

Elizabeth watched Bucky approach them and Steve kissed him passionately and then whispered something to him.

Bucky smiled, standing between her and Steve, "So you're my new wife?" He grinned.

She smiled and let out a nervous laugh, which was broken off as he bent down and kissed her. "About time Steve grew some balls."

"Jerk." Steve muttered.

"So," Y/N said on the other side of her, smirking, "Ready to kick ass again?"

"Oh hell yeah." Elizabeth smiled.

They were back.

🎃 :::::  🧡  ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━  🧡  ::::: 🎃

One minute, you had been in Wakanda. The next minute, you had been in some sort of weird. . . space place. Like you were high on drugs or something. And after five hours, you were back, laying on the ground next to Sam, who was breathing hard like he had been on a run.

"Did any gummy monsters try and eat you?" Sam asked, sitting up.

"The fuck?" You groaned, getting to your feet, looking around. Pietro's dead body was gone, a grave marker in his place with his name on it. Damn Wakandans had moved fast. Vision's body was gone, though Wanda was laying next to where it had been.

Suddenly, an orange portal appeared for you and you saw what looked like the army. . . again. "Aw man." You whined. You could see Elizabeth standing next to Steve, both of them looking like they'd showered in dirt. Steve's shield was broken.

"Damn the punk really broke the unbreakable." You heard Bucky groan next to you. "And Howard Stark isn't here to make him a new one." Then Bucky winced.

You patted his shoulder. "Tony can do it. Let's go and join them, shall we?"

You saw Tony far away, his Iron Man suit looking like it had been through the mill. Pepper was there in another suit, much like his but slimmer with blue and silver tracings.

You joined Elizabeth's side. "So, ready to kick ass again?"

"Hell yeah." Elizabeth smiled.

"AVENGERS!" Steve shouted and you watched in amazement as Thor's hammer came to his hand. It was dead silent for a moment and then he said, "Assemble."

You shouted with the others in battle cry, and then ran off to attack.

Or, more like, run straight into Tony's suit as he landed in front of you, knocking you off your ass. He just landed on top of you, pressing his lips to yours. "Five fucking years Y/N."

"Five?" You asked incredulously. "Oh damn you're gonna have to fill me in."

Tony winced, "Uh Pepper and I have a five year old daughter named Morgan because you and Happy were both gone and we sort've fell together. Oh and Cap and Elizabeth are sort've married with twins. Also, both girls."

You raised an eyebrow, "You know. I think I always knew the two of you had chemistry."

"I love you most though." Tony offered, helping you to your feet.

"Oh good." You teased, readying your AK-12. "I was a little worried I might be placing second first time in my life."

"Never." Tony scoffed, and then flew up to join the others.

You couldn't focus on much else besides the aliens you were trying to kill around you. Although you did see Pepper and Tony fighting together in the sky. They actually really did make a good duo.

"You're going to make me a suit too, right?" You joked in the coms.

"Just give me a colour scheme." Tony teased right back.

You ended up back near Tony as he landed near Doctor Strange. "Hey you said one out of fourteen million we win this, right?"

"If I tell you what happens, it won't happen." He replied ominously.

"Well, you better be right." Tony said, taking off again.

Strange looked at you for a moment and then went right back into the fight. You didn't like that. That felt ominous.

You saw T'Challa running with the glove and you went to catch up to him. It was knocked from his hand and Thanos ran towards him before Wanda landed in front of him, hands and eyes glowing red.

"You took everything from me." Wanda hissed.

"I don't even know who you are." Thanos answered.

"You will." Wanda growled.

"Hey." Elizabeth said brightly behind you. "That's What Snape said to Harry."

"Huh?" You asked, completely taken aback by the randomness of the comment.

"You know." Elizabeth said in a duh voice, "What Wanda said, Snape basically says to Harry. But Harry doesn't know who Snape is, cause he doesn't know Snape loved his mother."

"Elizabeth speak English!" You shouted. "Also, I think Wanda needs our-"

You watched as Wanda enveloped him in red.

"Yeah. . . " Elizabeth said slowly. "No she doesn't." and She ran off towards Bucky who knelt, cupping his hands, and catapulted her into the air so that she could slice through flying aliens.

"Okay then." You muttered.

Then it started to rain fire down from the ship. You watched Bucky grab Elizabeth, Rhodey grab Bruce, everyone trying to protect each other as Peter used his ropes, trying to get the glove back to the van. The wizards lifted their shields above their heads, protecting everyone.

Sam barreled into you, lifting you into his arms, before the two of you crashed near where Sam's soulmate was trying to keep the dam from overflowing, turning it into a tornado.

"SAM!" Stephen shouted.

"I'm fine!" Sam shouted back and looked at you. "Are you okay?"

"Perfect" you gasped out and then pushed the two of you off as another bomb came down. "Okay, now perfect."

Suddenly, the firing stopped and they started firing at something in the sky.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y. what are they firing at?" You and Tony asked at the same time.

"Something just entered the upper atmosphere." The Irish voice that you had missed so much answered. You exchanged a look with Sam.

It looked like a glowing person as they crashed into the ship, setting the thing on fire. The plane went down in flames, crashing into the lake below it.

"What was that?" Sam asked.

"I think it was a who." You murmured, the two of you turning to get back into the fight.

You and Elizabeth caught up together, going to join the women's battalion to charge the army that was coming towards you all.

You fought your way through the hoard, trying to reach the van. Turquoise and red, beams of yellow and blue swirled around you as you shot aliens through their heads.

You thought you won as Thanos was pinned to the ground, before he turned and threw his weapon into the van.

You felt yourself flying through the air, before you landed, looking immediately for the gauntlet. It was near Tony, who tackled Thanos to get him away from it.

"Tony!" You shouted as Thanos tossed him away. Thanos went to grab the glove as you staggered to your feet, running for it. Thor landed, fighting him with two lightning weapons. Steve landed on Thanos' back before Thanos head butted Thor and grabbed Steve. Thanos punched Steve hard in the stomach so he was still.

"No!" You heard Elizabeth shout as Thanos grabbed the glove then.

The glowy lady landed, fighting him, before he grabbed her arm, flinging her across the crater as well. He went to snap his fingers before she was back, trying to bend the glove backwards so it could never snap.

He pulled the power stone out, bashing her away.

You watched Tony and saw him staring at someone else. Stephen holding up a shaky finger, the number one.

Thanos put the power stone back and you rushed him, stabbing him in the chest, uppercutting, kicking him in the chin before you felt his fist collide with your back and you went sprawling in the dirt, groaning, coughing out a rock you swallowed.

You managed to get to your side to see Tony fighting with Thanos now, grabbing at his hand. He pushed Tony away and then lifted his hand but you could see there were no stones in it when he raised it. "I am, inevitable."

You watched as Tony went to put the stones in his glove. "I am Iron man."

You looked at Strange again, who gave you a terrible, apologetic look.

But nothing happened and you looked back to see Tony staring down at his hand, frowning.

And then you heard Elizabeth behind you, surrounded by turquoise whisps. "And I, don't have a catchy phrase to say." And she snapped her fingers.

"NO!" You heard Steve shout somewhere behind you as everything around you crumbled to dust.

"Elizabeth!" You shouted as the girl you'd known since kindergarten fell to her knees. She would have fallen on her face if Tony hadn't caught her. You slid to her side on your knees. "Elizabeth?"

"Elizabeth." Steve fell by her side, tears on his face. "No, no why would you do that?"

Elizabeth looked more confused than anything else, the glove having fallen off her hand so that you could see the skin was burned. Turquoise still surrounded her body, though it had faded immensely. "Y/N. . . my sister. Couldn't let her know what it feels like." Elizabeth whispered, cupping Steve's face. "You have Bucky, you'll be okay."

Tony used that special substance that you couldn't remember the name of, trying to cover her burns that traveled from fingertip all the way to the right side of her face.

"And my looks are kind've gone." She managed to laugh a little.

Steve shook his head violently. "Elizabeth-"

Elizabeth gasped then in pain, tears pricking her eyes. "Stevie, it hurts." Her hand clutched his arm just slightly and he cupped her face. 

Steve was hyperventilating, sobbing. "It's okay sweetheart. It's okay. You're going to be okay. Please, I need you to be okay."

"Take care of my kids." Elizabeth begged, tears in her eyes now. "I thought maybe with magic. . . I'd make it but. . . clearly. . . not right." She smiled a little, looking up at Steve.

Bucky was there now, looking at her with some mix of horror and heartbreak. "Doll?"

"Keep him . . ." Elizabeth whispered softly, her hand dropping from Steve's face.

"Princess." Steve begged, letting out another sob. Tears were streaming down your own face in traces and Bucky knelt, pulling Steve into his arms, also crying.

Suddenly, Thor came down from the sky, slamming his hammer into her chest. You watched as lightning covered her body, her back arching. She screamed then and Thor let up.

You all waited in silence. One. . . two. . . three. . . four. . . she inhaled, eyelashes fluttering.

Steve immediately started CPR and you all waited. Everyone was surrounding the lot of you now. Stephen looked confused while putting a hand on Sam's shoulder. T'Challa, Pepper, Peter, Wanda, Natasha, Clint. . .

Elizabeth suddenly jerked, spasming as she jerked up, nearly colliding heads with Steve. She breathed deeply, spinning around, "Did it work-"

Steve kissed her then. Cupping her face with both hands. You almost expected Steve or Bucky to hiss in pain from the 'cheating', but it didn't happen. Steve broke away from the kiss. "Don't ever. Fucking do that again."

"Yeah, no worries." Elizabeth panted and looked up at Strange, "One in fourteen billion eh?"

"Actually," Strange said slowly. "Tony was to die but I mean, this works too. Guess you beat the odds. Two in fourteen million then."

"So that's why you didn't tell me." Tony grumbled.

Elizabeth tried to get to her feet, but cried out in pain, collapsing back to the ground.

"I've got you." Steve said sweetly, lifting her into his arms.

"Sorry." Thor grunted, "I couldn't lose my last bit of family."

"Yeah, I know." Elizabeth groaned, leaning up on Steve's shoulder. "Ow."

You bent your head and you cried. Because everyone was alright.

[skits-things]

Scarlet Savior

In light of the fact that ao3 is under a ddos attack and thus there is no expected eta for a fix, I've decided to put this fic in text form on tumblr, as well as the other prompt I wrote for @darkkitty1208. They also betaed this work. Also @ironstrangehaven in case you wanna reblog this, even though you already reblogged my ao3 link. Fic is under the readmore.

Summary:

It was supposed to be yet another invasion of the Earth. Stephen won’t ever understand what makes his world so attractive to invaders, but it should have been standard procedure. For once though, the inhabitants of the dimension seeking to conquer Earth didn’t merely attack rampantly.

The aftermath is abhorrent. 

He despises the looks of pity that follow him around. The horror and morbid fascination of strangers. Even those exposed to the dangers of their way of life have a mere fraction of the marks on him. Trivial compared to his experiences.

The only other person with as much red on them is Deadpool, and no one expected different from the merc with a mouth. Even then, there’s the odd hole in his aura. A speck of his body that has somehow remained unscathed. 

All anyone can see when they look at Stephen, is a blindingly bloody red. 

Wong is the only one he can stand to be around nowadays. Two weeks after the nonsense and yet it seems like the staring won’t ever stop. Whether it’s the members of the Mystic Arts, the general populace, or the so-called champions from The Incident, Stephen feels their eyes like a drill to the Earth’s core. 

His friend is generous enough to allow Stephen his sulking. None of them understood exactly what they were signing up for in The Incident. Every one of the participants were stripped and made vulnerable to their cores. Wong himself had more than his fair share of scarlet on his body.

It was merely unfortunate that Stephen turned out to be extraordinary in this way too. 

The Sanctum alerts him to a visitor and he grimaces. The doors stay shut by sheer force of will, and his ill-timed guest only stays for a few minutes longer. Almost petulantly kicking the door on his way out. 

The isolation of the library no longer feels like a safe haven from the world. Tony Stark has a way of making his presence felt, merely by reminding people of his existence. Stephen grabs his books and prepares to leave for his rooms, but stops short at the unimpressed look Wong levels at him. 

“What?” Stephen snaps, irritated and perhaps a touch defensive. 

Wong doesn’t say a word for a long minute. Stephen turns to leave, holding his books carefully in his arms. Usually his hands were able to give some support, but it was a bad day. Levi subtly curls underneath his arms to relieve some of the pressure. 

“He’s not going to stop.” Wong says just as Stephen reaches the door. The words freeze him in place. “He’s been visiting every day since. Avoiding him is not going to solve anything.” 

Stephen grits his teeth and whirls around, eyes alight with fury. “Then he should learn to mind his own business!” 

Wong lowers his eyebrows a fraction, somehow appearing more disapproving than before. “He was there too, if you recall. The tournament-” 

Stephen hisses, shoulders bunched up to his ears. “That was not a tournament. That farce could barely be considered combat.” And only because of how the other side defined the event. 

A sigh rings through the room, long, deep and tired. It makes the part of Stephen that’s finally learned to care sit up and pay attention. A closer inspection of Wong has Stephen frown. He really hasn’t been aware of his surroundings lately. There was something almost disheveled about Wong’s appearance. Ties too loose, layers just slightly off. Lines of stress stretched his features tighter. 

He purses his lips. He’s never been very good at showing concern. Stephen clicks his tongue. “How are you holding up?” Stephen throws back, almost carelessly. 

“About as well as I can be.” Wong shakes his head. “If I’m ever able to get my hands on the person who botched that translation…” 

Stephen snorts. The books shift in his arms and Levi pools more of itself underneath them. He adjusts to let the cloak take more of the weight. “You and everyone else there. Personally, I think some time in the Dark Dimension would do them some good.” 

He stiffens immediately. His mouth ran faster than his thoughts, because once the words were out he couldn’t take them back. Wong pointedly tilts his head in Stephen’s direction. “That. That’s something you need to clarify with Stark. The man’s persistent. If you don’t take the initiative, he’s liable to do something drastic.” 

Stephen glares at the floor, shoulders already inching back upwards. He doesn’t know when they even dropped. “I don’t see why he needs to know. I don’t see why anyone needs to know. It’s in the past.” 

“Don’t be purposefully obtuse. You know why.”

Wong’s not wrong, but Stephen will deny it for as long as he can. It’s a mistake to flee from this conversation – Wong will get him back for this – but he could swear he was getting hives from it. It’s only in the safety of his own room that those hateful reminders hit home. 

The worst part of this whole ordeal - more than the vulnerability, more than the lack of choice, more than even the kerfuffle of a choice of words causing this disaster - is that of everyone possible, the person closest to him at the time of The Incident was Tony. 

His thoughts inevitably take a turn and, involuntarily, he remembers the day of The Incident. 

It was supposed to be yet another invasion of the Earth. Stephen won’t ever understand what makes his world so attractive to invaders, but it should have been standard procedure. For once though, the inhabitants of the dimension seeking to conquer Earth didn’t merely attack rampantly. 

The Impralians had superior numbers, firepower and technology. As much as Stephen hates to admit it, it was for the best that the Impralians also had the highest respect for champions of society. Or at least that’s how it was interpreted. 

In the end, the governments of the world had agreed to send fighters to represent them for the right to remain unconquered. While the Earth might be able to find a way to survive regardless, millions of lives would have been lost from the confrontation. Everyone with even the slightest desire to increase the chances of victory showed up.

Only the best of the best were selected. As a warrior race with regenerative durability, there had to be enough heavy hitters to make an impact, but also a small enough number to remain manageable, as every fighter sent out would be matched with another enemy. The major media outlets practically went rabid and had their own tournament for the chance to broadcast the event to the world. 

One hundred people were chosen to represent the Earth. Of those, ten were from Kamar Taj. The minimal number necessary to pull off some of the techniques that required multiple masters working together to accomplish. 

Tony was among the number chosen. His intelligence and resourcefulness was determined to be an asset in the case of their enemy using unknown technology. Peter, thankfully, was not. Spiderman might be strong, smart and scrappy, but he also didn’t have many directly damaging methods of attack. When Spiderman was removed from the list of possible combatants, Stephen could see the disappointment on Peter’s face as clear as the relief on Tony’s face just behind him. 

Though at least some of the ability to read the man came from time spent in proximity. After Thanos was defeated, Stark badgered Stephen until he threw his hands up and resigned himself to the man’s company. Somewhere along the line, Stark became Tony. It grew more difficult by the day not to slip up and reveal something from the fourteen million futures, but Stephen’s self control is impeccable. While the genius no doubt suspected something, Stephen was sure he had no clue just how intimately Stephen knew him. 

And intimate is certainly the correct word to use. Stephen doesn’t blush easily, yet some of those futures slip past his iron grip and manage to throw him into a flustered mess. 

They might have been treading the line towards something more between them in this future as well. After Tony and Pepper publicly broke off their engagement, Tony poured on the charm even more than he normally did just by being himself. Stephen was just starting to believe that their engagement was really over. That by some twist of fate, they might actually have a chance in this timeline.

Stephen fell in love with Tony Stark over and over and over again. In fourteen million different ways, but all leading towards the same end. Heartbreak.

There’s something about Tony that makes you want to put your trust in him. To take a chance. Stephen had bet the winning future on Tony’s ability to pull off a miracle with the right information and they succeeded. It made him want to take a chance on them too.

Fat chance of that happening now. 

The biggest problem Stephen Strange ever has, is that he’s never quite sure what to do about his own emotions. Other people’s emotions, which he’s also terrible at handling, are easier to deal with than his own. At least their emotions are an outside factor he has to adjust for. His own responses to his emotions are limited to ignoring them or becoming an angry defensive mess. Christine could attest to that.

So when Stephen returns from a standard trip outside of their realm to handle a task only capable by the Sorcerer Supreme, it is, perhaps, not entirely unexpected that his reaction to Tony in his room is to spit out vitriol.

“Get out.” The words are packed with as much venom as Stephen can fit. He doesn’t look at the man, just moves swiftly past him towards his attached bathroom. The barest amount of care he can spare towards Tony is keeping his words short. Stephen’s well aware Tony doesn’t deserve being treated like this. That doesn’t stop him from doing so.

He never learns his lesson.

“Stephen.” The soft cradling whisper of his name pulls him up short. Back stiff, Stephen closes his eyes and internally curses the way he can feel them tear up. He knows if he opens them, the shine would be damning evidence.

“Stephen.” Tony repeats, and Stephen can hear him stepping closer until he can feel the warmth of his presence at his back. “Stephen, look at me. Please.”

He doesn’t want to. Stephen still vividly remembers the look on Tony’s face. A curse of his perfect memory. The horror and despair was on a level he hasn’t witnessed in any of the possible futures. He never wants to put that look on Tony’s face again.

In the end, he doesn’t move or say a word. But he also doesn’t move further away. Tony takes that as an invitation to wrap his arms round Stephen and press his face into the back of his neck.

“Alright, you don’t have to look at me if you don’t want to.” The pained lilt to Tony’s voice is nearly enough to make Stephen turn around. If he wasn’t so sure of the expression he would find on Tony’s face. If he saw the pity, Stephen would shatter like fine china.

“But let me apologize. I’m so, so incredibly sorry, Stephen. I shouldn’t have reacted like that.”

The bitter laugh is involuntary. “Like what then? You didn’t do anything that anyone else hadn’t.”

“And if I could I would have each and every one of them apologize too.” Tony swears with fierce protectiveness.

“Don’t.” Stephen shudders with something akin to pained resignation. “Everyone there was subjected to the same treatment. Your own horrors were put on display.”

Tony tightens his hold around him. “But no one else died countless times! No one else had an endless montage of suffering lasting over three weeks!”

“And what, that makes me entitled to special treatment?” Stephen hopes he manages to convey the sheer distaste he has at the thought. “Trauma isn’t comparable.”

“Yours was so bad it won us the victory by a landslide.” Tony counters and Stephen immediately tries to pull away. Tony’s grip manages to keep him in place. “Fuck. No. I shouldn’t have- Look, we’re clearly both terrible at this; just give me a moment.”

Stephen’s tempted to not, but then again, if at least some small part of him didn’t want to stay right here in Tony’s arms, he would have vanished long ago. The master of the Sanctum doesn’t have to be anywhere within it that he doesn’t want to be.

After a few minutes Tony says, “I pulled apart the platform the second I was given the green light. I might have bribed more than a few people to get permission for it too, but we don’t need to talk about that. I can’t pull the videos off the ‘net – infringing on too many human rights apparently – but there isn’t a monument to your pain on display anymore.”

The words fill Stephen with more relief than he thought himself capable of feeling. In exchange for a numbers disadvantage, the Impralians negotiated building a stage on Earth where the competition would be held. After seeing the layout, it was determined that there would be no environmental advantage in combat for them.

It turned out, it wasn’t an environmental advantage they had to worry about. The Impralians used it as a double edged sword. Their technology managed to harness emotional energy – most specifically pain – and use it as a weapon against their opponents. For whatever reason, they couldn’t make it one directional and use it unilaterally against them, but the Impralians relied on their superior regeneration to endure anything their enemies would throw back at them.

They’ve almost made it into an art form. Culturally, the display of their most vulnerable moments was seen as an honor. Something to be respected for. By syncing psychic energy waves in conjunction with the emotional energy, the respective combatants' most marked fighters would have those moments projected for all to view. All persons on the stage would have this signified with red auras located just above the location where the injury occurred. The more frequently the area was injured, the deeper the color and size of the aura.

Stephen’s aura was a dark crimson and stretched meters. It was no wonder he was selected as tribute by their system.

It wasn’t even a fight, really. For once in their history, the Impralian’s defeat was instant. They were prepared for much, but multiple successive ways of dying isn’t something anyone is ever prepared to experience.

Apparently, the Impralians were so impressed by what he managed to survive that they insisted on his presence during the final negotiations. The overwhelming victory won them more than a few concessions of reparations from the Impralians and so Stephen was wrangled into being put on display like a circus act.

It was for the sake of the world, so Stephen grit his teeth and bore it, but he vanished the second he could. He refused to be sucked into something else “no one but him” could assist with. If he wasn’t faced with solemn respect by the Impralians the entire time, he’s sure he would have snapped. What a world when his enemies were more tactful than his own species.

Stephen sags back into Tony’s hold a bit. “Pain is an old friend.” The words are barely above a whisper, but in the quiet between them it might as well have been shouted. “And it wasn’t countless.”

“What?” The confusion was audible.

Stephen sighs. A moment of silence. “17 million, five hundred forty-four thousand, three hundred twenty-six.”

It takes a heartbeat of time, but Tony’s sharp inhale tells Stephen he got the point. “You remember all of that?”

“Every last one.”

This time, when Tony tries to turn him around, Stephen lets him. He’s tired of fighting. At this point Stephen just wants to get this over with. “Stephen, look at me please.”

The desperation in Tony’s voice has Stephen open his eyes and look into Tony’s. The horror isn’t quite gone, but the pity he was so sure to exist was nowhere to be found. Instead, a deep and enduring sort of concern and care (and dare he say love) was all that was reflected back. It crumples his defenses more thoroughly and rapidly than any empathetic response ever could.

He breaks down, right there in Tony’s arms. The stress and suppressed emotions boil over, silent tears streaming down his face as he finally lets himself feel everything he’s ignored since this living nightmare began. Shoving his face into Tony’s neck to hide, he lets Tony hold him together until he can find it within himself to face reality again.

When he returns to awareness, they’ve migrated to his bed. Tony rubs his back gently and has Stephen tucked under his chin. Levi is wrapped around both of them and when Stephen looks up, he spies the dried tears running down Tony’s face too. There’s some comfort in knowing he wasn’t the only one to become overly emotional, even if he’d prefer this hadn’t happened at all.

“I had hoped to at least take you on a date before ending up in bed together.” Tony weakly jokes.

Despite the terrible timing, Stephen finds himself cracking a grin. He really is gone on this man, Stephen thinks helplessly. Mildly put out with himself, he says, “I’m usually not this easy.”

Tony snorts. “Stephen, babe, you’re anything but easy. It’s a good thing I like a challenge. So?”

“So?”

Tony rolls his eyes. “Will you go on a date with me? Or at least stop avoiding me?”

If the literal horrors of Stephen’s life aren’t enough to drive Tony away from him, he doubts anything will. It’s the easiest thing in the world to say yes. Even if the path to getting here was the hardest. 

[arkytiorwrites]

Day 5: “I Can’t Help Falling in Love”

Strange Supreme x Reader

Short and sweet because I’m the living embodiment of STRESS right now.

"And how's the most handsomest sorcerer in the multiverse?" I asked with a teasing grin as I came up behind my favorite Stephen Strange.

When Wong had assigned him to library duty, the poor man had almost started dancing for joy at being allowed to help.

"I don't know, how are you?" the taller man fired back as he continued re-shelving.

"Don't dodge the compliment, babe,” I scolded as I wrapped my arms around his waist.

He grumbled at that, but didn't actively fight back. Minor victory, gotta take ‘em when you can with Mr. Quip. He used his magic to keep organizing whileI held him in place, my face leaning on his shoulder and gently swaying us to the song in my head.

"Wise men say

Only fools rush in

But I can't help falling in love with you

Shall I stay?

Would it be a sin

If I can't help falling in love with you?"

I began to croon in a low, soft voice, still swaying the both of us.

If anyone deserved to be told how much they were loved every second of every day, it was the man I held tight in my arms. I could hear his heart rate rising under my ear as he stilled, resting his clawed hands over mine.

Twisting our fingers together, I pressed a kiss to his shoulder blade, and continued.

"Like a river flows

Surely to the sea

Darling, so it goes

Some things are meant to be

Take my hand

Take my whole life, too

For I can't help falling in love with you.”

Bringing Stephen to my universe from his crystal bubble had honestly been the best decision in my entire life. I would have never forgiven myself is I had left him to that eternal purgatory; to hell with what Wong, or my universe’s Strange said.

He had paid his price, and redeemed himself by saving the multiverse. If anyone deserved a second chance, it was him. And by God, I was gonna make sure he did.

"Like a river flows

Surely to the sea

Darling, so it goes

Some things are meant to be

Take my hand

Take my whole life, too

For I can't help falling in love with you

For I can't help falling in love with you."

"I love you to, sweetness,” Stephen whispered hoarsely. Turning so he could hug me back. "So, so much. Thank you."

“Always."

[prettywitchiusaka]

Lines From Stephen x Clea Fanfics I May Never Write (Out of Context) Post 153:

Stephen: If you sent your daughter out to harm Clea, I swear I'll-

Nightmare: Calm down, loverboy. Do I look like I've talked to my daughter in the last little while?

(Stephen ponders this for a moment, and considers his enemy might have a point. There's nothing to indicate in his words, or inflections, or even his actions that he's lying.)

Stephen: No...No, you're right. If that was true, you'd probably be boasting, by now.

Nightmare: (He smirks, smugly.) Naturally.

[kuroecchy]

the pic in the list are not mine, I just found the pics from pinterest.

fair warning the theme i chose for my october prompts are completly randome so I have nothing planned for any of them.

English is not my first language and no beta.

!WARNING!

child abuse

Past trauma

homophobic

minor character death

Day 4 - Childhood

It started in the morning. He felt like he had woken at the wrong side of the bed. He felt like he could explode at any time.

He tried to get his mind off it and went to the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee. Only to find that the coffee maker is broken.

He sighed, He wished Stephen was here. His boyfriend makes the best coffee and tea the engineer had ever tasted.

He forgoes breakfast since Stephen is at Kamar-Taj and wouldn’t be back till later this evening.

He went down to his lab through the elevator. When the door opened, the face of Steve Grant Rogers was the one that greeted him.

Just great, he thought sarcastically. Still, he stepped into the elevator.

“Tony? You look terrible. Maybe you should rest some more.” The captain was showing genuine concern but Tony wasn’t really in the mood to be nice.

“I’m fine,” He said curtly, “What are you doing here?”

“I’m about to go mee Sam and Bucky to go on a run with them.” While he said that, his expression still shows concern about the shorter man’s wellbeing.

Tony hates it. Thankfully the elevator opened to his floor quickly so he could step out.

Stiffly he spoke, “Well, this is my stop. See you around, I guess.”

He then quickly left to enter his workshop.

His bad day didn’t seem to stop there, It followed him throughout the day. He kept accidentally messing things up and it caused the engineer to get even more irritated.

Time flew by ang the next he knew it was night time.

He’s tired, frustrated, angry, and hungry. He felt terrible and he knows he looks terrible too.

He was stopped from continuing by his AI informing him that both Stephen and Peter had returned and Stephen is making dinner.

So he decided to go greet them.

Upon arriving he was greeted with Peter’s over energetic-ness. The teen was saying this and that and this and that, there was nothing wrong with it, it was normal for him to do that.

Too bad today wasn’t the right time for it.

“- And then we can go and -”

“Peter, stop.” Tony cut through the endless babbling. Peter was confused. Did he do something wrong?

“Mr Stark I -"

“Peter, please, for the love of God. Stop talking.” Now the teen is really starting to panic, did he annoy Mr Stark?

Stephen, who had been listening from the kitchen frowned.

“But I-”

“Peter, Please. I’m tired.” Stephen moved towards where they are, he has a bad feeling about this, “If you’re gonna talk so much then just- Leave!”

It was too late. He had said it and there was no taking it back. The words had taken its effect, the teen’s eyes were starting to get red.

The spider child didn’t bother to say anything else and simply ran towards the nearest exit.

“Peter-!” his hand reached out, but it was too late, the teen had already left.

What the hell did he just say? How could he say something like that? My God, he felt sick-

His knees went weak and he fell to the floor, “Tony!”

He was just like his father. He’s just as horrible as his father. He-

His thoughts spirald even further.

“-ny. -ony! Tony! Breath, follow my breathing, it’s okay, you didn’t mean it.” He hugged the broken man in his arms closely and whispered soft things into his ears, reassuring the other.

“You were having a bad day, you were tired. I understand everyone gets tired. It’s okay.”

“it’s not… It's not okay. I’m just as fucked up as my father-”

“NO! Tony, believe me, you are not your father. He’s not you, you are one of the kindest men I've ever met."

It took a few minutes more to calm down. They had managed to move to the sofa and after a while Peter returned (JARVIS called him). Tony explained that it wasn’t the teen’s fault, he had simply been in a bad mood since this morning and it had simply blown up.

After that the spider shield went to bed first. Stephen then pulled Tony to their bedroom to rest as well.

While the sorcerer had reassured him that he wasn’t his father, Tony still couldn’t get it off his mind. Thanks to that it resulted in him not being able to sleep.

Good thing that Stephen anticipated this since he also didn’t sleep, instead, he spoke, “Do you wanna talk about it?”

The older man looked at the younger one, “m… Nah.. it's stupid anyways”

“Tony… It’s not stupid. I care about you.”

“Yeah, well. It’s not even supposed to be that big of a deal.”

The younger male pondered his options, “I… was - am still -scared of loving someone, especially if they’re a male.

“My sister - Donna - I loved her so much. But she died. And it was all because I couldn’t help her. Had I been able to do a simple respiration she would still be alive now

“I’m scared of failing to protect the person I love…

“My father hated me after that incident. He and ma never really cared about me. Donna was their pride and joy. So after that incident… He would beat me up just because he hated to see me.

“It got even worse after he found out I’m bisexual. He called me all sorts of things while hitting me and telling me that no one would ever love someone like me.”

His voice trembled with each word and it broke off in the end.

Two strong arms wrapped around the shaking sorcerer. He didn’t even notice he had been crying.

“I’m sorry Stephen. No one should ever experience that. You should never have had to experience that…” he trailed off for a bit.

Stephen had trusted him with this vulnerable side of him, the least he could do was return it.

“Ever since I was born my father never cared about me. I tried to gain my father’s attention, I thought that if I were to show him how smart I am he would love me…

“Turns out dad only saw the potential to use me. He showed me off to the media like some sort of trophy then sent me off to a boarding school when I was 4.

“When I came back my father didn’t change a bit. He was still only interested in finding rogers. At that point I didn’t care, I had started drinking and doing so many horrible things I…

“I finally got the attention I wanted from my father… He started to hate me. By the end of it, before he died we had been on horrible terms with each other.

“He took my mom with him…”

By the time Tony finished they were back to hugging each other.

They felt safe in each other’s arms. To just- ignore the whole world for that moment.

They fell asleep still wrapped in each other’s arms.

[doctorstrangeaskblog]

for you. 💙 take it easy today, okay? we see you, we appreciate you. your work doesn’t go unnoticed. you deserve softness. you deserve to rest.

and if you ever need a nap buddy, holler. i could probably use someone wrestling me into a break too. 😅

My work...doesn't go unnoticed? Do you...really think that? Okay. I'll take it easy today. *he doesn't show much, but he's very very happy*

[ironstrangeheart]

Why Doctor Strange Really Hated MCU Iron Man

Screenrant pisses me off! Obviously the two have a lot of similarities, but they paint Tony to be a complete asshole yet again!