#it’s very exhausting being the sorcerer supreme

[phoenixmetaphor]

Oct 2 - Ghostober - pet ghost

[aliensupersyn]

The Cog Narrative

An exhaustive analysis of Yuji's role as a cog to defeat curses, and an explanation for why Gege has not given him any significant power ups, and likely never will. I analyze Mahito and Sukuna alongside one another as foils to Yuji to compliment Yuji's promise to kill curses.

Yuji first comes to the terms with his role within the story after he defeats Mahito. He calls himself a cog meant to kill curses. Yuji's existence as a cog suggests a system that he feels he belongs to, which I will refer to generally as jujutsu society. In the beginning, Sukuna ruled jujutsu society, and his impact still remains, causing a schism between sorcerers. Still, the system has changed since the Heian era; where Sukuna once ruled with might, Jujutsu High now rules with political domination.

Sorcerers by nature wish to save people, and curses juxtapose them. Despite the changes in how sorcerers rule themselves, curses remain the same. Yuji's fight with Mahito helps him understand that a curse's true nature lies in their need to spread misery. While Sukuna isn't technically a curse, he still believes in spreading misery like one.

Mahito demonstrates the hunger for destruction that Sukuna describes as the ingredients for true strength. Uro's comments repeat this same idea. She's witnessed Sukuna's might for herself and saw him cull her squad of assassins before she was executed to deter Sukuna's ire.

Gege has been consistent throughout the series about what makes people like Mahito and Sukuna strong; their willingness to destroy everything and everyone, and the pleasure it gives them, literally and figuratively defines their existence as curses. Both promise to remain negative forces that will haunt humanity until something kills them. When Mahito kills Nanami and Nobara, he relishes in the despair it causes Yuji. The immense pleasure killing and causing despair grants him drives him to spread even more misery. As a result, he gains further understanding of his soul's essence and unlocks more strength. Gege directly ties a curse's strength to how they prioritize their desire to cause and spread misery above anything else.

Like Mahito, Sukuna thrives on the misery he causes. Though, Sukuna sees himself as a divine arbiter who bestows judgement on humans, who he deems to be beings below him. As a divine figure, he condemns humans to misery by his hands. Sukuna's title as the "disgraced one/the fallen," and his talent to forgo a barrier for his domain expansion reflect his defiled divinity. Gege describes Sukuna's domain expansion as a truly divine technique, which adds even more grandeur to his role as the strongest sorcerer in history. Sukuna's undefeated reign of terror ultimately defines his status as a divine sovereign of jujutsu sorcery.

As the symbol of the greatest force in the history of sorcery, Sukuna enforces a schism within jujutsu society. In the Heian era, and now in the modern era, Sukuna spurs the rule of might. By threatening carnage, he forces sorcerers to come and meet him in battle to test their strength and knowledge against his own. To avoid the calamity Sukuna threatens, sorcerers must either kneel to him or hope to defeat him. In the Heian era, most of the sorcerers likely chose the former after failing to succeed at the latter. After armies of sorcerers died against him, jujutsu society was forced to praise him as their divine sovereign.

The Yorozu panel reveals that Uro once led the Sun, Moon, and Stars squad that Sukuna slaughtered. The second and third pages above describe Uro's squad as powerful sorcerers who challenged Sukuna and died. Yorozu also once challenged the Fujiwara clan and they made her one of their nobles*. Uro detested the very same Fujiwara clan who apparently subjugated her.

The manga isn't very specific about what Yorozu's status was, just that she was some type of noble in the Heian capital.

After he annihilated Uro's squads, Sukuna became the supreme divine sovereign of jujutsu society in the Heian era and sorcerers were forced to worship him to avoid his ire. To stress his divinity, sorcerers prayed to him for a good harvest as if he were a God. The Fujiwara clan likely executed Uro, a leader of some of the forces that challenged Sukuna, to appease their new divine sovereign. The fealty that was pledged to him likely made Sukuna extremely bored. He wished to spread misery, but his opponents had all lost the will to challenge him and instead begged and worshipped at his feet.

Sukuna represents a solitary strength that directly juxtaposes Yuji's. As a cog, Yuji depends on others to help him achieve his role as a means to curses' ends. Against Mahito, Nobara's soul resonance granted Yuji an opening, and left lasting damage that was crucial to the curse's defeat. Yuji shamelessly depends on his friends to help him. He hardly ever fights alone and often gets paired with fighters stronger than him, especially against Sukuna. Yuji's team up with Maki, Higuruma, and Yuta drives forth not only Yuji's dependance on others' help, but also his direct contrast to both Mahito and Sukuna.

Mahito was the last of the disaster curses who remained in Shibuya after Hanami, Dagon, and Jogo were killed. Similarly, Sukuna fights alone in Shinjuku. The disaster curses' defeat demonstrates how Gege leaves room for both Sukuna and Yuji to be correct. Hanami, Dagon, and Jogo were all defeated by powerful people who represent solitary and unreachable strength; Gojo, Toji, and Sukuna all occupy the role as the strongest at the time in their respective lanes. Toji, before Maki's awakening, represented the pinnacle of strength beyond jujutsu. Gojo represents the strongest sorcerer of the modern era, and Sukuna the greatest in history and the Heian era. Despite them being alone, all three yielded better results than Yuji working alongside Nobara and Todo. In Jujutsu Kaisen, teamwork does not always work better than one strong person fighting alone.

In Jujutsu Kaisen, Gege allows both teamwork and isolation to breed innovation and evolution. Gege prioritizes a narrative focused on depicting clashing ideas more than anything else. For many characters, like Mahito and Yuji, victory represents the strength and vindication of one's convictions. If Mahito had won his battle against Yuji, that would have provided Mahito proof of his right to slaughter as he pleases. Because for him and Sukuna, might is right. In an interview, Gege reiterated my findings.

Gege allows for both heroes and villains to prove their ideas' worth against one another by allowing a story where both sides suffer similar casualties. Gege will often create a disparity favoring the villains in order to spin a story of triumph over malevolence.

The give and take often suffered by both heroes and villains define the jujutsu society that all the characters belong to. The system includes curses who thrive on spreading misery onto humans, as well as sorcerers who refuse to give into the despair caused by their enemies. The constant ebb and flow between good and evil represents the system that Yuji belongs to as a cog.

Sorcerers and Cogs

Clashes between benevolent and malevolent convictions define jujutsu society as a system built by Sukuna's rule of might. Even in the modern era ruled by Jujutsu High's political leaders, Gojo's strength alone provides him power over the higher-ups; his threats to murder them reflects Sukuna's rule of might and likely his relationship with the Fujiwara clan during the Heian era. The cog's strength determines its worth within the system, and sorcerers represent the wheels sustaining jujutsu society. The strongest sorcerers will determine what their system produces.

Against Sukuna, Megumi's desire to save people regardless of the world's fairness acts as an exemplary demonstration of a cog's attempt to challenge the system. Sukuna himself built the same system that Megumi's cog metaphor alludes to. Saving people directly juxtaposes Sukuna's conviction to slaughter and cause humans to choke on their own misery.

Sukuna welcomes the challenge because it enables him to continue enforcing his rule of might; killing sorcerers and spreading misery act as foundational imperatives for Sukuna's role as a calamity enforcing his will onto humans. Sukuna's righteous cause to destroy as he pleases forces sorcerers to either face him or kneel to him. In the above pages, Megumi spins just the way cogs in the Heian era had when they chose between kneeling and fighting. The choice that Sukuna forces upon sorcerers exemplify the system that his existence causes. Sukuna's system, jujutsu society, exists as that choice between worshipping and challenging him.

Yuji's cog comment connects back to Megumi's and demonstrates Yuji's growth as a jujutsu sorcerer. Many readers think Yuji's cog mentality holds him back, but I argue that it reflects his maturity into a fully realized sorcerer. After Higuruma's death, Yuji immediately takes the Executioner's Sword and tries to finish what his partner could not. Yuji's ability to keep fighting not only juxtaposes his failure in Shibuya, but also his maturity as a sorcerer.

The strength to fight on behalf of his fallen partner exemplifies Yuji's growth. Yuji's new blood manipulation powers will likely play an even greater role in Sukuna's ending, but he's already grown into a more grounded sorcerer. Yuji's strength lies in his team ups with his friends to achieve a united goal. With Maki returning, the two of them will work together to finally bring Sukuna down.

The choice between challenging Sukuna and worshipping him pervades even the modern era. The Jujutsu High political leaders feared Sukuna and his fingers. Even without a real body, Sukuna's cursed energy alone enforced fear and awe into jujutsu society. All sorcerers understood that his return would mean another schism; they would be required to either join him or foolishly challenge as a powerless upstart. Throughout history, sorcerers made binding vows with Kenjaku in order to one day challenge Sukuna, as Uro's squad once did. Others knew better and instead attempted to create a jujutsu society that worked to contain Sukuna in his cursed object form.

Sorcerers exist as cogs, forced to carry on each other's legacies and bear the burden of killing curses. Beyond that initial understanding, Sukuna exists as the craftsman that enforces conflict for his amusement. Sorcerers, ultimately, exist as Sukuna's toys. The final battle in Shinjuku Showdown will determine how the system, jujutsu society, might finally change if he dies.

[ishipallthings]

Cap-IM Rec Week 2023 (Tues)

It's About the Yearning Tuesday, July 18 for @cap-ironman Rec Week!

Today I'm reccing fics based on my favorite trope of all time - pining 💜

Remember to show some love for your hard-working creators!

take my heart clean apart by mistymountainking @stovetuna

Tony comes home exhausted after an SI event. Steve acts as welcoming committee. It's an old, careworn routine they've perfected over the years, but tonight ends up going in a very different direction.

Take A Number by 51stCenturyFox

So what if Tony Stark is sleeping with everybody else (except him)? Why would Steve care? He doesn’t even like Tony, and certainly not like that...

for you I’ll pretend (to fake it) by AvengersNewB @avengersnewb, Lacerta

Steve doesn't think twice when he agrees to help Tony out, even if it kills him inside to attend a gala as Tony's fake date. Tony doesn't know if he can keep up the pretense on this evening out as friends but it's as close as he can get to an actual date, so he takes it. Things don't go as planned though, with all the pining, the pent-up feelings, and bumping into Tony's horrible, obnoxious ex, Ty Stone.

Can't Write One Song (That's Not About You) by FestiveFerret @festiveferret

Ten years ago, Tony fell in love with his roommate: funny, handsome, kind, smart Steve Rogers, who also happened to be the lead singer and guitarist of a band, The Howlies. Then The Howlies made it big, Steve moved away, and Tony vowed to avoid any mention of the band, their songs, and the man he missed his chance with. But chance has a way of giving you exactly what you need, even if you don't know it yet...

you'll be mine and i'll be yours by complicationstoo @ifmywishescametrue

Five words ruin Tony's life. “He doesn't love me back,” Steve says, and Tony feels his world crumble to pieces at his feet. Steve loves someone, and Tony knows it isn't him.

in my head by brucewaynery

Tony tells Steve about solipsism, the theory that everything is merely a figment of your own imagination, and Steve lets something slip.

ignorance is (not) bliss by earliebirb @earliebirb

One of Tony’s hands shoots up to grab his wrist, gripping it tightly. Slowly, Tony opens his eyes. Steve’s blood freezes in his veins. His heart sinks with dread.  “Tony?” Steve hopes that this is just some weird bout of sleepwalking, but Tony doesn’t sleepwalk, and from the thoughtful way Tony regards him, Steve knows that Tony is somehow very much awake, which means— Tony swallows, his eyes wide and alert in a way Steve didn’t think they were capable of being twenty minutes ago.  “Steve,” he says, the single word carrying too much weight.

now I worship a celestial sun by haemodye (616)

A mostly-comedic farce involving: 1 obedience spell, 2 pining Avengers, 1 long-suffering Sorcerer Supreme, and 1 single, extravagant Saint Patrick's Day float.

Not a Perfect Man by Neverever @captainneverever (616)

Steve and Tony are back on track as friends and spending a lot of time together as they form a new Avengers team. But Steve is again in a rocky relationship with Sharon and Tony is dating a new woman. Steve struggles as his long-dormant crush on Tony comes back with a vengeance because he's supposed to be a good man and he doesn't want to lose Tony as a friend. What is he supposed to do as a friend when Tony's new girlfriend turns out to be not good for Tony?

The Culling of the Stars by dirigibleplumbing @dirigibleplumbing (616)

Tony dies saving Steve's life on the courthouse steps. Now Steve is left with the fallout of their Civil War, expected to take charge and preserve Tony's legacy. He doesn't know how he can do it alone—not when he can't stop thinking about Tony, or keep track of the days, or even feel.

What Was It You Wanted by sheron @sheronm

"C'mon, a kiss from Captain America is not so terrible." According to the alien custom, Steve had to kiss each teammate on the mouth, and some kisses come with more aftermath than others.

Down in Lonesome Town by resurrectedhippo

“Why do I always find my way back to you?” Maybe Tony didn’t necessarily return to Steve, but fate is a funny little thing, and after living a life of loss, Steve wants something that’s his to keep. After the universe is restored, Steve is lost without any direction. Retiring from the Avengers, he moves across the country and ends up building a house by a misty blue lake. Across the bridge is Tony Stark’s new workshop.

Hope you guys enjoy the recs, and stay tuned for more! Please mind the tags before reading. Check out my tag for previous years’ rec lists :)

[themculibrary]

Cloak of Levitation Masterlist

5 Times the Cloak Saved Dr Strange - And One Time It Could Not (ao3) - queenofroses12 T, 19k

Summary: The Cloak of Levitation may be picky when it comes to choosing a sorcerer - but once the choice is made, it is fickle no longer. Incidents in the life of our favorite Master of the Mystic Arts and, to quote Tony Stark, a very loyal piece of outerwear.

Some fluff, some angst, plenty of hurt/comfort.

Carry Me With You (ao3) - Webtrinsic G, 1k

Summary: On Stephen's back there is a blue patch of fabric belonging to the Cloak of Levitation now sitting around his daughter's shoulders.

Cloakie! (ao3) - BlueKappa peter/mj G, 1k

Summary: In which Doctor Strange attempts to parent the Cloak of Levitation and Cloakie just wants to be with its friend, Peter.

Closest Friend (ao3)- JustRandomStories G, 6k

Summary: After getting an invite to Avengers Tower by Tony Stark himself to discuss whether or not he would consider a role in the Avengers, Doctor Strange finds himself curious and decides to go. This would be a very serious matter for all of them, and it was. Now if only The Cloak of Levitation would stop acting like a child.

From the Outside (ao3) - Live tony/stephen G, 3k

Summary: Being a sentient life-form surrounded by humanity can be hard. Especially when said humans just can't admit their feelings for each other.

getting to know you (ao3) - merrywil G, 5k

Summary: Sometime between the end of DS and IW, Wong and Stephen went from colleagues to friends (and, I kinda like to imagine, roommates). Colleagues say hello at work. Friends say “our favorite flavor” when they talk about sharing ice cream with you, or buy you a sandwich at the corner deli when you run out of cash. A year in the life of two people becoming friends.

Hold Me Still (ao3) - lantia4ever tony/stephen T, 10k

Summary: Just days away from Christmas Eve, duty calls for the newly allied Sorcerers and Avengers. As Stephen departs with Tony to tackle the threat, one wrong step later he realizes the alliance might be quite short-lived.

But one should never underestimate the force that is Tony Stark.

In Lieu of a Kiss (ao3) - amethyst-noir (Arbonne) tony/stephen G, 1k

Summary: Stephen (and the Cloak) stumble home, hurt and exhausted - right into Tony's arms.

In Times of Crisis (ao3) - airas_story tony/stephen T, 36k

Summary: Tony had seen some weird things in his time. The flying, potentially sentient cape that was accosting him on his way home was just the latest in the list. What else is Tony supposed to do but help?

5 Times that Tony Stark Carbonell Helps Stephen Strange, +1 Time that Stephen Strange Helps Tony Carbonell Stark

It's Not a Cape (ao3) - dragonnan G, 1k

Summary: A peek into a possible history for the Cloak.

Loki, the Sorcerer Supreme (ao3) - aphrsditea loki/stephen G, 1k

Summary: Tony has learnt to expect anything. Anything at all. What he doesn't expect, though, in a million years, is entering the Sanctum and seeing Loki wearing the cloak of levitation — what he doesn't expect is Stephen Strange being alright with it!

One in 14 Million (ao3) - tisfan tony/stephen T, 1k

Summary: Keeping secrets is lonely work. Two men, with the worst, most desperate secret between them, find comfort in each other.

Or: The one where the Cloak of Levitation ships it.

Strange Circumstances (ao3) - RoseAmaranth tony/stephen G, 2k

Summary: Tony and Stephen argue. The cloak is fed up with them.

The Cloak of Laughter (ao3) - nhasablog G, 2k

Summary: Lots of laughter, a near drowning and an entirely wet bathroom floor later, the cloak was clean, and Strange had a plan.

(Or, Strange tries to wash the cloak and discovers something interesting that he of course has to share with Tony immediately.)

The Cloak of Levitation Plays Matchmaker (ao3) - orphan_account tony/stephen G, 3k

Summary: The Cloak of Levitation shows up in Tony's kitchen.

Therapeutic B.A.R.F. (ao3) - Howlingdawn T, 4k

Summary: In the battle against Thanos, Loki was nearly killed. As he saved him from death's clutches, Strange heard him say something about apologizing to Frigga. So, with some help from Tony's B.A.R.F. glasses and a certain Cloak of Levitation, Strange offers Loki a less fatal way to have that much-needed moment with his mother.

When Fate is at Stake (ao3) - onedeadfellow tony/stephen T, 3k

Summary: Basically this is just that deleted scene from Disney+

Tony is wearing the Cloak of Levitation and Stephen is wearing the Iron Man suit. The boys are gonna kick ass.

[tangleweave]

Sigyn

The smile on Sigyn’s face widened as Stephen stepped into the room. Based purely on his disheveled look, she knew he abided by her rule and got a good night’s rest. Norns knew that he needed it too.

While she admired his dedication to his work, it worried her at times too. He was so quick to burn himself out and leave himself exhausted, it was one of the many reasons as to why she came up with the rule in the first place. Someone had to make sure that he took proper care of himself at some point.

“How did you sleep?” She asked as she slid into her chair, taking a long sip of her slowly cooling cup of tea. She had prepared one of their favorite blends, one they had created by mixing both Midgardian teas and a few Asgardian herbs. It also just happened to be something they created together on one of their first dates– thus making it one of her go-to’s.

“I don’t know what your plans are for today, but I was thinking with it being so dreary outside… Maybe we could have a movie night?” It seemed as though the rain wasn’t going to be letting up any time soon and she could think of no better way to spend the day with him.

Stephen cinched the belt about the waistline of his robe as he stepped into the dining space, returning the smile she gave him as his gaze landed on her. Was she beautiful? Without a doubt. She had the grace and bearing of a goddess, after all... but that she brought it to full measure for him? That was a gift for sovereigns. He wasn’t a king, and he knew that there were those who argued that Sorcerer Supreme was a far more potent title, but all of it was laid to waste before the smile she sent his way.

He sat down in the chair beside her and took up the teacup she had waiting for him. When it came to the beverage, he knew few people as fussy as himself -- an acquired peccadillo, to be sure -- but here, too, was a place where Sigyn excelled. They’d made the blend together, yes, but even after establishing their exacting standards, each of them liked their augmentations... honey, milk, sugar, sometimes two, sometimes none of the above. It all depended on the day. She knew, right down to the drop, how much honey he liked... right down to the grain how much sugar he took.

And somehow, some way, she always knew what his tastebuds called for on any given morning.

“I’m willing to put money on you having a pretty good idea the answer to that question,” he replied with more than a slight smirk on his lips. “Just because you don’t want me projecting here doesn’t mean I don’t know when you’ve been running your fingers through my hair. But if you want to hear it right from the horse’s mouth? I slept fine.”

Her meandering suggestion caused him to cock his head in thought for a long moment. “Movie night... or movie day, as it sounds like you’re suggesting... sounds like a fun idea. I want to do the day’s exercises and meditations, and with this much rain, I should keep tabs on the New York were-gator faction, make sure they’re not on the move. I promised Spider-Man I’d keep an eye out during washout periods. He can’t spin trustworthy webs in the sewers when they’re flooded.”

Then he tilted his head the other way and aimed a smile at Sigyn. “But all that should only take about half the morning. And if you’re very lucky, you’ll have a very wet Stephen on your hands when it’s all said and done.”

If asked, Stephen couldn’t rightly say whether he’d intended to sleep the full night at Sigyn’s or not. But he wasn’t likely to be asked; Wong knew him a little too well and was a little too tactful to put the question forth. One thing had led to another last night. It hadn’t been the first time. Far from it, really.

Awakening was something of a trial for him because it was the first time in quite a while he’d kept his spirit bound to his body for the duration. He hadn’t bothered to project his astral form anywhere while he slumbered. That had been a condition of Sigyn’s to permit him into her bedroom... something about not wanting his soul to wander in restlessness while his body slept. Stephen had gently reminded her that his was a restless soul by nature.

Her response had been the Vanir equivalent of “deal with it”.

And so he’d awakened in her bed, in a tangle of his own limbs. His face was upon his own right bicep, and apparently had been for at least an hour; total paresthesia was afflicting his arm above the elbow, and it would not move for him no matter how he tried. He mumbled a groan against the meat of his arm. It was a blessing and a curse; the tingles would begin in just a few moments, but before that happened, he could try to enjoy the fact he could feel nothing at all in that hand. As opposed to his left, which was currently experiencing his normal -- afflicted with persistent tingles, shrieking stabs, and shooting fire.

And then... the sound of her voice.

The word “chipper” came to mind. It was the sound of a woman delighted to play the role of hostess and caretaker. “Girlfriend” was another word he thought of, even considering she was last truly a girl some centuries ago... but she was his girlfriend, wasn’t she?

Boyfriend or not, he’d be damned before being a poor houseguest.

He began pushing himself out of bed, latching on to both the word and the scent of breakfast. He already knew he’d be complimenting the food the moment he saw her.

[ironstrange1991]

Two Stephens

+18 Smut (Ménage a trois, baby!)

Pairing: Supreme!Strange x Fem!Reader / Doctor!Strange x Fem!Reader

Synopsis:  When a spell goes wrong you and Stephen are throwed into another universe and end up needing the help of another Stephen Strange and things get a little intense between the three of you.

Word Count: 4,900k

Warnings: Ménage a trois (Vaginal and anal sex, DP, Oral sex with male and female receiving, Masturbation with male and female receiving.)

Writer Note: I needed to get this fantasy out of my head and I ended up being quite satisfied with the result. This is totally filthy. you are welcome ;)

As usual I would like to remind you that english is not my first language so will probably have some grammatical mistakes here and there but I hope it doesnt spoil your experience.

----------------------------------

“Okay, this is the worst day of my life, Strange and you will have to compensate me for all this mess.”

Strange held out his hand to you helping you up.

“Let's find a way to get back home first.”

You sighed looking around. You were on top of the roof of a building and you could take a good look at the city of NY from that universe. It was different. More alive, with much more greenery and flowers and even the smell of the air was better. No pollution or smell of factory smoke.

“I could get used to living here”  You said sighing and Strange rolled his eyes. Of all the people in the world he could be lost with in another universe with no idea how to get back home, you were the last one he would choose. Wong insisted on saying that the problem he had with you came from a repressed feeling, but he couldn't imagine feeling anything for you at all. You were irritating, petulant, and although very pretty, you were definitely not a good company.

You felt your stomach churning, but you took a deep breath, doing your best not to throw up.  “Okay, what's the plan?”

He was silent for a second.

“Strange, tell me you have a plan.”

“Maybe I’ll have one if you just shut up for a minute and let me think.”

You crossed your arms in annoyance “We're in NY. There must be a Sanctum here.”

He shook his head “Great deduction.”

You rolled your eyes “Maybe if we find the Sorcerer Supreme of this universe he can help us find a way to get back to ours.”

He thought for a moment looking at you “Maybe there is another me in this universe.”

You sighed “I'm praying we’ll find the Ancient One or Wong. I couldn't handle two of you.”

You walked the streets slowly, being surprised by the small differences between the universes. Here, for example, people walked in red instead of green, which made you almost get run over if he didn't pull you at the right time.

"Watch out" he said gruffly.

“Just for the record, this is all your fault!”  You replied back in the same tone “If I die I will come back to haunt you!”

He looked at you offended “How is this my fault?”

“Are you really going to pretend it wasn't your spell that went wrong and caused all this?”  You sighed irritably as you crossed another street “Just to remind you, I warned you not to do this damn forgetting spell. You never listen to anyone, Strange.”

“I was trying to help the kid! I know it's hard for you to have empathy for people, but he's suffered too much.”

“Okay, and I imagine he must be better now with all those villains loose there and both of us missing. How do you think he's handling it all by himself?!”

He did not answer. Strange was feeling tired and guilty. He was also worried about Parker and what might happen to him and you seemed to enjoy putting salt in the wound. He didn't know why you hated him so much, but it was exhausting to be around you for more than an hour and he was already around you for a long time. He just wanted to get home as soon as possible.

You finally arrived at the Sanctum Sanctorum and hesitated a little to knock on the door, but before you could knock the door opened by itself and you entered revealing a slightly more beautiful and well-kept hall.

“Hello” Strange called in the empty hall and then a familiar and annoying voice answered.

“What... How did you get here?”

You turned on your heel in time to see the man in a blue tunic coming down the stairs.

“Oh for God's sake!”  You complained

Strange stared at the other Strange coming towards him. It was exactly like him, except he didn't have a goatee and wore a blue tunic and a blue cloak.

“I'm sorry for entering like that”  Your Strange said “We are looking for the Sorcerer Supreme of this universe.”

The other Strange looked at the two of you curiously “Well now you find him. How can I help you?”

You couldn't help but notice the weird way that Strange was looking at you, as if he knew you.

You sat in the hall by the fire and he poured you a cup of tea and waited for you to explain how you got there.

“So let me get this straight”  He said placing the empty cup on the coffee table “You used a forgetting spell to help your friend escape the persecution he was suffering, but somehow the spell went wrong and caused cracks in the fabric of reality opening rifts between universes?”

Strange nodded feeling ashamed before himself “It was a stupid mistake on my part. I could have fixed it, but the kid...”

“Now you want to blame a teenager for your mistakes, Strange?”  You said irritated “Who understand the dangers, him or you?”

The other Strange looked at the two of you and smiled at you. A kind of smile you weren't used to seeing on your Strange. “I always knew that one day I would meet visitors from other universes, but I never dreamed of meeting a variant of myself and [Y/N]”

You stared at him in surprise “Do you know me?”

He nodded “Well, let's say so.”

Your Strange looked at you both curiously noticing the way the other Strange looked at you.

“Sorry, but what are you two to each other in this universe?”

Strange smiled, looking away from you and you felt your face heat up.

“We never decided that, actually.” He replied “Anyway, I haven't seen her in years. She's married and living out of the country from what I heard.”

You nodded, relieved to know that there was no way you could run into a version of yourself in that universe.

“I ask you the same question.”

Strange looked at you sighing “She is a student at Kamar Taj. One of my most powerful and intelligent students. No less irritating.”

You stared at Strange in surprise that he had said something positive about you.

The other Strange sighed “Well, if there is a rift between the universes as you say, I believe it's not impossible to return home, but first we have to find a way to fix this mess before other visitors start arriving from other universes.”

Strange agreed “I know I have no right to ask this, but I need your help.”

The other Strange looked at you again with that interested look and then smiled getting up and offering his hand to your Strange.

“I'll help you, Stephen. Besides, I would do anything [Y/N] asked me to.”

You felt your face getting red as you watched the two Stephens holding hands and it really did look like a vision from hell to you. Or, if you were going to accept that you had feelings for Strange that you never let on, then that would be a vision of paradise. A highly distorted paradise stemming from some forbidden fantasy.

You sighed getting up “Sorry, is there a bathroom I can use? Long day!”

Strange nodded “Of course. I imagine you know the Sanctum. You can have one of the guest rooms tonight. Make yourself at home!”

You agreed, turning your back on both of them as quickly as possible and walking away from that environment that suddenly felt inappropriate when added to your thoughts.

Strange noticed that the other Strange didn't take his eyes off you and noticing something inside him not liking it. It was almost as if he was jealous. But of course it couldn't be that, it was ridiculous.

“I presume you want to rest as well, maybe take a shower. There's not much we can do tonight. Tomorrow morning we'll find a way to send you home. The sooner you return, the less chance of an incursion.”

Strange looked at him confused “Incursion?”

“That's what happens when one universe collides with another. We don't want something like that to happen to our universes so, as amazing as it is to meet you, I'm inclined to get rid of you as soon as possible.”

Strange nodded “Of course. Yeah... thanks for the hospitality.”

The other Strange smiled “I presume you would do the same for me. After all, if we could't help ourselves, what kind of Doctor Strange would we be?”

Strange nodded and was leaving the room when the other Strange spoke again.

“You and [Y/N]... is there nothing between you?”

Strange didn't understand the reason for the question and again noticed that irritating feeling of jealousy invading him.

“She clearly likes you...” He smirked “us... that's why I'm asking.”

“And why do you want to know?”

Strange sighed “Because it would be quite an incursion!”

Strange gritted his teeth, but shrugged. “I doubt she likes us that way. Believe me, that woman hates me, she makes my life a hell all the time!”

Strange chuckled “Some would say there is a thin line between love and hate. Maybe we're somewhere in between.”

Strange shook his head “As long as she agrees, do as you please!”

Strange nodded.

You took a shower and looked out the window at the streets of NY bathed in lights. Tiredness hitting you like lightning.

You weren't content to wear the same clothes, but for lack of anything else to wear you stuffed yourself inside your pair of jeans and white long-sleeved blouse. A knock on the door took you by surprise.

“Come in” You said while drying your hair. The Strange of that universe entered the room in his glorious blue tunic and blue cloak.

“I hope you are well accommodated”  He smiled “Me and your Stephen agreed that I will help you both to return to your universe tomorrow. Tonight you must rest. You're safe here.

You felt your heart racing and you looked away from the intense way he was looking at you.

“Yeah...thanks, Strange.”

He nodded “You can call me Stephen if you want to”  He said taking a step towards you and getting dangerously close to you “We were very close.”

You nodded, swallowing your saliva “Thank you, Stephen.”

He smirked “The last time we saw each other you told me that you loved me. If I remember correctly, you said you loved me in every universe”  He said touching your face and as strange as that was, you couldn't pull away. “I think this is a great opportunity to test that.”

He touched your lips with his thumb, forcing them to part.

“Of course, if you're as interested in finding out as I am.”

He came closer and kissed your lips lightly. Just a touch of lips, watching your reactions. You sighed, all the feelings you felt for him that you had hidden for so long now surfacing and overwhelming you. You knew it was wrong, but for that moment you couldn't care less.

He smiled as if reading your thoughts and took you in his arms kissing you intensely. The cloak fell from his shoulders and flew out of the bedroom.

You were lost in his arms when you heard the sound of footsteps that stopped at the door.

Strange stepped away from you and you stared at your Strange standing in the door looking at the scene with an expression you didn't know if it was anger, surprise or desire.

“Stephen, I was saying to [Y/N] that the last time I saw her in this universe she told me that she loved us in every universe, what do you think about testing this theory?”

Strange stared at the two of you. The arrogant way his variant referred to you, as if he knew you so much better than he did, made him jealous and he couldn't hide anymore that all the irritation he felt when you were around masked a feeling much stronger than he could have imagined. The fact that such feeling was so strong that existed in other universes only made him more sure of how real it was and seeing that variant kissing and touching you made him want to do the same. You were his after all.

He entered the room and the other Strange stepped away watching as he took his hand to the back of your neck and pulled you to his lips. You moaned softly in surprised but wrapped your arms around his neck and let him deepen the kiss, sucking your tongue with desperate desire. You pulled back for breath and opened your eyes to see the other Strange looking at the two of you with lust.

Your Strange stepped back cupping your face in his hands

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

You faced the other Strange who was waiting anxiously for your answer.

“Fuck this! Yes.”

You said launching yourself into the arms of the other Stephen, delighting in his lips while your Stephen approached you from behind kissing your shoulder and moving his lips to your neck. You moved away from the lips of one Stephen to surrender to the lips of the other, taking turns between their mouths, the contrast between the smooth face and the goatee was interesting and you were not at all in the mood to choose which was better. You wanted both.

The bedroom door closed with a slight movement of the other Stephen's hand and you heard the latch click.

Your Stephen ran his hands down your back holding your blouse and pulling it over your head and throwing it to the floor. He placed open-mouthed kisses on your bare shoulder and pressed you against his body so you could feel his shaft under his clothes.

The other Stephen caressed your breast over your bra and not satisfied pulled it down revealing your naked skin, the cold air making your nipple harden. He brought his lips to it sucking, his other hand caressing your other breast.

A low moan escaped your lips and your Stephen reached for your hand placing it on his shaft so that you could feel the state you had left him in. He buried his face between your neck and your shoulder, you tilted your head to create more room for him and he took a light bite of your neck, his goatee making your skin shiver, your hand gripped his cock over his clothes. God, it was huge.

The other Stephen lifted his lips to yours again, his hands going down to your pants unbuttoning the buttons and pulling them down, reaching down to help you get your feet over them. He turned his lips to your breasts as he brought a hand gently down between your legs, stroking through your panties.

You felt your entire body tremble at that touch. Your hand struggling to free your Stephen from all that clothing as he continued the assault on your neck.

He unbuckled his belt, getting rid of some of his clothing, leaving only his pants and boots. You moaned softly as the other Stephen slipped his hand inside your panties caressing your clit with his trembling fingers and taking one finger inside you.

“Oh look at that, she's completely wet, Stephen. And its all for us.”

You moaned in agreement putting your hand inside your Stephen's pants and finally taking his cock and releasing it. He was hard, full of visible veins, a fat, pink head, and the tip was wet with precum. You held him tight in your hand moving up and down jerking him.

“Oh fuck, baby, do you really want me that way? Why didn't you tell me before?”

"Shut up, Stephen" You said feeling your face blushing and pulling him to your lips as you stroked his cock and moved your hips against the other Stephen's skillful fingers. The wet noise his fingers made inside you was obscene.

“God, Stephen, this is so good!”

He chuckled kneeling on the floor, lifting one of your legs and placing it over his shoulder. He pulled your panties to the side and licked all the way from your entrance to your clit.

Your entire body shook and you moaned loudly, increasing the strength and speed with which you jerked your Stephen.

“Is it good?”  He asked biting his lip to contain his own moans “Tell me how it feels with his mouth sucking you like that?”

You moaned “It feels good, Stephen. Really good.”

He growled impatiently “I want your mouth. I want to fuck that dirty mouth of yours until you confess that you always wanted me to fuck you. How does that sound to you? Good?”

You nodded, moaning loudly as the other Stephen stuck one more finger inside you and fucked you with them while sucking your clit. You brought your other hand to his head, grabbing his hair.

“Fuck Stephen you do it so good.”

He smiled satisfied looking at you. His smooth face all red and wet with your juices. “Yeah? How about letting your Stephen have a taste on you? Do you want this, Stephen?”

Your Stephen groaned impatiently “Fuck yes.”

Stephen pulled away taking your hand and pulling you onto the bed. “Lie down, honey.”

You obeyed, laying down leaning against the pile of pillows. Your Stephen got rid of his clothes and climbed onto the bed coming towards you. He brought his hands to your panties, taking them off and throwing them on the floor and your legs dangled to the sides. He bit his lip seeing you fully open to him. Your little cunt swollen and wet. He couldnd believe that was really happening.

“Stephen, please... I need you to touch me.”

He brought his fingers up your slit feeling how wet you were and opened the folds of your clit before diving there, flicking his tongue in your bundle of nerves making you twitch and moan.

The other Stephen smirked satisfied watching the two of you. It was beyond any dream he could conjure up seeing himself sucking you like that, it made him extremely hard.

He unbuckled his belt and got out of his clothes leaving only his boxers and climbed onto the bed kneeling beside you and taking your hand and placing at his cock over his boxer. You bit your lips caressing over the fabric, then you reached inside and took it out, stroking quickly.

"God, Stephen you are so big"

“Yeah? You like it? Put it in your mouth, honey. I want this wonderful mouth around my big cock.”

You moaned as Stephen placed three fingers inside you, fingering you intensely as he sucked on your clit making a delicious sucking noise.

You jerked him a couple of times and spat on him spreading your spit around him and only then your putted him in your mouth going as far as you could without gagging.

Stephen moaned loudly “Oh shit honey, your mouth feels so good wrapped around my cock like that.”

You hummed contentedly by moving your hips to get as much friction as possible from your Stephen's mouth as his fingers fucked you.

You took his cock out of your mouth and went back to spitting on him jerking him quickly. He held your hair, pulling it lightly.

“You do it so well, [Y/N]. I missed that. I missed you.”

You nodded knowing too well he wasn't talking about you, but it was all so confusing right now, you didn't really care.

Stephen raised his lips kissing your belly and breasts and took his hand to your chin pulling you off the other Stephen's cock to kiss him.

You kissed him, tasting you from his mouth and moaning between his lips.

“You taste so good, baby. I could eat you like this forever.”

You sighed into his lips as you continued to jerk the other Stephen making a wet noise.

“I want to taste you Stephen. Let me suck your cock too. Let me show you how much I care about you, how much I've always cared.”

He groaned, sitting up in bed.

The other Stephen cupped your chin kissing you. You got down on all fours and took Stephen's cock in your hand and spat on it stroking it quickly, squeezing it and fucking it with your hand.

He moaned loudly “Please baby, put it in your mouth. I want to fuck your mouth.”

You complied by sucking it willingly. Licking the tip and going as far as you could, relaxing your mouth until the tip hit the back of your throat.

“Fuck baby, you do it so perfectly. You’re so good”

The other Stephen caressed your ass cheeks and you felt his fingers penetrating you.

“You are dripping wet honey. So warm. I wanna put my cock inside you. Can I? Say yes please. Let me fuck you while you suck his cock.”

"Yes, Stephen"

You said feeling his tip rubbing at your entrance. You moved your hips against him, wanting him to enter you at once.

“Honey you are so needy.”

He spat on his hand, bringing the saliva to the tip of his cock and then positioned it at your entrance, penetrating you with a single thrust. You moaned loudly as his cock stretched you and you kept your Stephen's cock in your mouth sucking him fast while your hand caressed his balls.

“Oh shit, honey you are so tight. Your fucking little cunt is so tight. I love it.”

You moaned in approval as he fucked you with quick, intense thrusts. Both hands gripping your hips, squeezing and pulling you against his thrusts and going so deep it made your whole body shake.

Stephen pulled your hair out of your face and kept it in his hand in a ponytail so he could get a good view of your mouth swallowing his cock. You kept forcing him down your throat, going so deep that your nose brushed his pubic hair, your hand gripping his balls and massaging them.

“Baby you suck my cock so good. Why have you never sucked my cock before? Isn't that what you wanted all along?”

You hummed taking his cock out of your mouth coughing and gagging. Saliva dripped from your mouth in a thick tread between your mouth and the tip of his cock. Tears streaming from your eyes. You moaned loudly feeling each wonderful thrust while the other Stephen fucked you at such a fast and intense pace.

He pulled you to his lips kissing you and then pulled you off the other Stephen's and into his lap.

“It's my turn” He said turning your back to him while you put your leg through his legs. You held his cock helping him to penetrate you and supported yourself on your legs to ride him, but Stephen couldn't give up control. He slipped his hands under your thighs, holding your weight and forcing his hips against you, fucking you at his own fast, intense pace.

He moaned loudly “Baby, your cunt feels so good on my cock.”

The other Stephen got up standing on the bed and came over so you could suck his cock. You kept both hands busy behind your back resting on Stephen's chest, so he put his hands in your hair holding it and forcing your head against his cock making you swallow it.

“Fuck, honey, you're being so nice to us. I bet you never dreamed of having two Stephens in bed with you, did you?”

He held your chin taking his cock out of your mouth and you took the opportunity to breathe. He was right. You never dreamed something like that could happen.

You shook your head no and he placed his cock in your mouth sideways forcing it against your cheek and pulling it out with a delicious popping noise. He repeated it a few times moaning and then grunted impatiently "Fuck this Stephen, If we're going to do this, we're going to do it right.”

He pulled you off your Stephen and made you lie on your side, your head positioned at the perfect height so you could suck your Stephen.

He lay down right behind you running his hand through your slit collecting as much of your slick and dragging it to your other entrance.

He spat into his hand, bringing the saliva to his cock and placing the tip on your ass. He pushed slowly and you twitched insecurely.

“It's okay honey, I know how to do it. I won't hurt you. Just relax, okay? Trust me.”

You did as he asked and tried to relax. He pulled your thigh, bending your leg so that it was in the best position for him to penetrate you from behind and slowly he was putting it on.

Your Stephen held all your hair in his hand forcing you against his cock. He moaned loudly, enjoying the wonderful flutter in your throat as you moaned into his cock while the other Stephen fucked you.

Stephen really knew how to deal with you, he didn't hurt you and with patience you felt his whole cock inside you in that wonderful new way.

“Honey, you can handle my cock so well. Tell me when I can move.”

You moaned, moving your hips against him and he smiled satisfied, starting to move slowly at first and then increasing his speed until he found a slow but intense pace and little by little you got used to being fucked like that, the new pleasure revealing itself with each thrust.

Stephen pulled you lightly by the hair taking the cock out of your mouth and moaning satisfied “Look at you baby. Are you really letting him fuck your ass? Tell me, does it feel good?”

You moaned and he bent down to kiss your lips “Use your words, baby. Tell me how it feels.”

“It feels good, Stephen. It feels good to have him fucking my ass. I've never felt anything like this before.”

He smiled satisfied “I wanna have your ass too, baby. Will you let me fuck your ass?”

You nodded and the other Stephen stepped back sitting on the bed leaning against the headboard.

“Come here honey, let me fuck your little cunt so he can fuck your ass. What do you think? Is not what you wanted? Two Stephens fucking you?”

You moaned and shaked your head yes, sliding your leg through his thighs and positioning him at the entrance of your pussy.

Your Stephen waited for your answer.

“Come here Stephen. I want you to fuck my ass. I want to have both inside me fucking me at the same time. My two Stephens.”

He groaned as he positioned himself behind you and placed his cock at the entrance of your ass and slowly pushed until he was fully inside you and moaned at the feel of your tight ass squeezing his cock and you have never felt so full.

“Oh my god, you both feel so good fucking me at the same time. Fuck yeah, I love it. Just keep fucking me like that, just like that baby. I feel so full, so full. Oh my god.”

You leaned on the other Stephen's shoulders kissing him passionately as you moved on his cock getting as much friction as possible on your clit.

At the same time your Stephen was holding your hair tightly fucking you from behind and turning your face so you could kiss him while he fucked you.

It didn't take long for you to feel your climax building deep in your belly. Even that felt different because you felt so full with them both inside you like that.

“Oh my god you gonna make me cum.”

The other Stephen moaned loud “Fuck honey, cum on my cock while he fuck your ass.”

You didn't need anything else, your entire body convulsed on top of him as your Stephen fucked your ass and no words came out of your mouth, just a loud moan and you collapsed on the other Stephen's chest.

Your Stephen pulled away holding his cock and jerking off “I am gonna cum, baby. Where do you want me?”

You moaned, bending down to take him in your mouth in time to feel the hot load of cum flooding your mouth. He moaned loudly as you sucked every drop until he was completely dry. He pulled you to his lips kissing you and then collapsing on the bed.

The other Stephen handed his cock in your hand and you took it in your mouth sucking it and jerking him, feeling him throbbing and twitching.

“Honey I'm gonna fill your mouth too.”

You moaned in approval as the hot liquid flooded your mouth and you swallowed it all. It had exactly the same taste. You licked him until he was completely clean.

He sat on the bed panting running his hand through his hair wet with sweat and then he smiled getting up and with a gesture of his hand he was fully dressed.

He came around the bed and pulled you in for one last kiss

“I was right. You do love me in every universe.”

You nodded watching as he left the room and closed the door behind him.

Your Stephen sat up in bed and held your hand “Are we going to talk about this or...”

You sighed feeling the tiredness hit your body “We will, but not today. Today we're just going to sleep”

You said and he nodded, lying down on the bed and you lay on his chest, snuggling your arm across his belly and soon you both fell asleep.

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MASTERLIST

Tag list: @drstrangesgirl91 @polytheatrix @dragonqueen89 @newtsniffles @strangelockd @evelynrosestuff @cute-angi @aisling1985 @whiskeyho @prix1994 @graveyzxbabe @kirithadilitirio @sherlux @xourownsidee @rbymoon @kakashibabe02 @hobimysolecito @geeky-politics-46

[oreosmilkshakes]

Only Love Can Hurt Like This

Summary: Relive your last moments with Stephen Pairing: Supreme!Stephen Strange x fem!Reader

Word Count: 3,496

Warnings: (Slight, I think) Spoilers for DSMoM! Sadness, Angst, no happy ending

A/N: Well, whew. This was another ride to write. Hope y'all enjoy! Comments/feedback well appreciated! (also, I had this idea listening to Vegas (I wanna ride) and not the song title-) Tho I kinda feel like the ending was rushed?? Idk ;-;

Taglist: NIL

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(Gif credited to TikTok user: @ randomlangme)

Only love can hurt like this

[Name] sobbed into her pillow, the feeling of a broken heart plagued her chest. Her never-ending tears stained her cheeks as she cried every single day and night. What did she do to deserve this? All of this? All she felt was pain, misery and sadness every day. Even forcing herself to eat just to keep her and her baby alive. She tried telling herself to be strong everyday but nothing worse. Not even the words of Charles Xavier could save her from this torment.

She felt the ground shake and she knew exactly who was causing the problem. Her husband and resident Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Stephen Strange. There was a war between Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and Thanos’s army. Even if the battle was far away, she could hear the aftermath of the fight. Everyone could.

[Name] gave one final sob into her pillow before wiping her tears with a handkerchief that once belonged to Stephen. The beeping of the heart monitor was the only thing that was capable of calming her. An irony, right?

The door swung open and Christine stepped in. She wore a soft but sad smile upon seeing the visible tears decorating prettily on [Name]’s cheeks. In her hand was a pad.

“How are you doing, [Name]?” Her voice soft, careful to not cause any agitation to the pregnant woman.

[Name] sniffled, dapping her cheeks. She forced a sad smile and it broke Christine’s heart.

“I’m alright, Chris..Tired but alright,”

Christine obviously didn’t believe her. How could see when the cause of all her misery was her former lover. She set her pad down on the table, moving over to take [Name]’s hand. She took it and the grip was enough to tell Christine that nothing about her friend was ‘alright’. The doctor stayed still as the soon-to-be mother sought comfort in her touch.

“Doctor Palmer to ward 23,” Came a voice over the PA and [Name] let go of Christine’s hand. It broke her even more.

“I’m sorry, [Name]..I have to go,”

She smiled, shaking her head.

“You’re needed, Christine. Go, I’ll be alright,”

Christine pursed her lips in a thin line, fetching her pad from the table and nodded.

“I’ll be back,” She turned, leaving [Name] alone once more.

[Name]’s eyes fluttered close as a wave of exhaustion took over her body. As she fell asleep, she found herself reminiscing about the good times she had spent with Stephen. Before it all went down.

[Name] met Stephen Strange seven years ago when she was a trainee nurse at the hospital he worked at. Occasionally, she was paired up with Stephen to watch as he did procedures, watching and learning his technique and style. Eventually, her feelings for the Doctor grew past trainer-trainee and the explosive happiness she felt when Stephen reciprocated the feeling was something she could not forget. Shortly after that, Stephen had brought her out for dinner and  a calming walk in the park.

Even after his accident, [Name] stayed with Stephen. He pushed her away, yes but she was not going to give up on him just as he had given up on himself. She watched him meet this supposed being called The Ancient One. He trained himself, fought hard to become the man he wanted to be- a Sorcerer to protect the world and existing realms.

Stephen proposed to [Name] atop the Empire State, where it overlooked the gorgeous city they called home. Of course, she said yes. She loved Stephen and Stephen loved her very much. Their wedding was a small one with close friends and family invited, Wong and members of the  Illuminati too.

Since then, [Name] couldn't stop staring at her wedding ring.

"Vibranium. I had to call T'Challa in for a favour," Stephen said, taking her hand in his. He leaned down, pressing a soft kiss to her hand.

“It’s beautiful, Stephen. I can’t stop staring at it,” [Name] giggled, moving her hands to cup Stephen’s smooth jaw. Her thumb gently caress his cheek. His hands found her hips, pulling her as close as he impossibly could.

“I love you so much,”

“I love you too, in this universe and every,”

Their next step in their journey was their honeymoon. Stephen had planned everything out much to [Name]’s delight. Of course he was worried about leaving Manhattan unprotected but Charles was there to assure him. “The world can live one month without the Sorcerer Supreme, Stephen. Go spend some time with your wife,” Charles said and that was enough for Stephen

Whatever problem [Name] in her life seemingly had disappeared during their honeymoon and Stephen never stopped pampering her, even spending each night in the throes of pleasure. She was finally feeling all of Stephen, mind, soul and body and that made her fall for him even more.

She found herself to be sick on the fourth and last week of their honeymoon and Stephen knew it was good news. She did at least seven tests and when the last one finalised her pregnancy, the couple shared a tight hug with tears in their eyes.

All was going well. [Name] had finally found the man she loved and her life was the best she ever had.

Until Stephen started having nightmares shortly after their return from their honeymoon. He would wake up screaming and covered in cold sweat, going on and on about a Mad Titan who was coming to invade the world.

“It’s just a nightmare, Stephen. Go back to sleep,”

“No, no, no, you don’t understand, [Name]! It’s real. He’s coming!” Stephen ran a hand through his hair, bare chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath.

“Who’s coming, Stephen?”

Stephen turned to her, looking right at her dead in the eyes and with an expression she has never seen before.

“Thanos,”

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Stephen’s well being deteriorated every single day. He was becoming mad and driven to find ways to stop his supposed nightmare from happening. He spent sleepless nights for months going through books within the Sanctorum.

He grew further from [Name], pushing her away as if she didn’t exist to him.

As months passed, her belly was growing bigger and by the fifth month of her pregnancy, she had had enough.

“Stephen!” She screamed, her voice travelled through the vast halls of the Sanctorum. It was quiet, almost too quiet. She swallowed, a hand on her belly and another on the railing as she made her way up the flight of stairs.

“Stephen!” She screamed out again and once again, silence responded.

[Name] made her way to an intersection within the Sanctorum, bright red light emitted through the door from the room at the end of the hall. She felt a trickle of sweat on her temple and wiped it off, creeping towards it.

“Stephen? Baby? Come on..,” She licked her lips, touching the door. She felt a soft heat coming from the door. Her hand moved down to the knob, opening it slowly. It creaked quietly and as the scene revealed before her, she felt her heart break.

Stephen was afloat, red orbs with strings looking akin to veins surrounded her husband. Before him was a book, one she has never seen  before but she recognised the corrupted magic. [Name] covered her mouth, tears pricked her eyes as she watched her husband succumb himself to such darkness.

Stephen opened his eyes, to find his wife in horror staring at him. He waved his hand, the magic disappearing and he brought himself back down on his two feet.

“Honey..Hey..come here..,” He held his arms out.

[Name] was frozen.

“S-Stephen..are you using…Chaos Magic? Stephen, please..stop this. Stop all of this! It’s just a nightmare, Stephen! Everyday, I don’t see you! Everynight, the bed is cold! All you do is..is..,” Her voice cracked, a hand moved to her belly again as her legs gave way. She was just so tired of everything.

“[Name]!” Stephen ran to her, dropping to his knees and held his crying wife.

“Oh, baby..Shh..Shh..,” He had his arms tightly around her, bringing her head to his chest as she cried.

[Name] felt her husband on her again and she couldn’t help but melt into his touch, gripping Stephen’s blue robes tightly as she sobbed. She pulled away first, wiping her tears with the back of her sleeves. Her hands cupped his cheeks, the same way she would always do.

“Stephen..please..stop all this..Please, I’m begging you..I need you, Stephen. I need you..Our baby needs you..Stop doing this magic, Stephen..The consequences..God, I can’t even think about it,” She sobbed out. Stephen swallowed, holding his gaze into [Name]’s brown eyes. He was doing all of this for her. To save her from this impending doom. He wanted what’s best for his wife and their baby and he would do anything to get it.

Stephen’s lips spread into a small smile, leaning in to rest his forehead against [Name]’s.

“I’ll do it..I’ll stop for you..I love you so much, in this universe and every,”

“I love you too,”

The couple shared a deep kiss, one filled with so much love yet sadness and pain lingered.

Must have been a deadly kiss

Humans are natural born liars and [Name] knew Stephen wouldn’t be able to keep true to his words. Sure, sweet kisses were shared and he was finally being the husband he was supposed to be five months ago but the longer he kept this up, the more lies she saw.

“I’m going for a walk, [Name]. Be right back!”

Or

“There’s an emergency and the others need me. I’m sorry, I love you,” became very common excuses for the next three months. [Name] was surprised no one questioned Stephen’s usage of gloves when he has never worn them. Eventually, she has had enough. [Name] told the truth to the members of the Illuminati, Mordo included and Mordo confirmed her words, claiming there was a drastic shift in Stephen in general. He had to be stopped. He was becoming a slave to the Darkhold.

So, when they went to confront Stephen in the Sanctorum, he felt betrayed knowing his wife was the one who confided in his own team. But he loved her too much to feel completely betrayed. A part of him thought it was a good idea she did it but his darker part objected.

Christine kept [Name] safe with the Ultron bots as her guards. They didn’t hear word from Professor X for hours and [Name] had to see for herself.

Imagine the horror she felt upon returning home. Black Bolt, Richard, Maria, Peggy and Charles were all incapacitated and Stephen was no where to be found. Karl Mordo was the first to recover, a hand to his hurting abdomen. [Name] felt tears flow as she approached Karl.

“What happened?”

He coughed.

“He’s succumbed to the book, [Name]. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,”

[Name] heard several heavy footsteps approaching, Christine and the bots had arrived on time to assist with the members of the Illuminati.

“Where is he? Karl, where is he?”

Mordo straightened up, a gentle hand on [Name]’s shoulder.

“I don’t know, I’m sor-,”

The ground shook violently and almost sent [Name] tumbling to the floor.

Charles and the others slowly came to be, all seemingly unharmed.

“Charles? Are you okay?” [Name] rushed over to the professor, a hand on his chair as she examined the cut on his forehead. He raised a hand up, shaking his head slightly.

“I’m alright, dear. He is more powerful that I had expected,”

“Where is he, Charles? Please, I need to know where-,”

Another violent shake, [Name] braced herself on Charles’s chair.

“What's going on?” Peggy asked and Christine was furiously scrolling through her pad.

“It’s as we feared. Remember our theory about Incursions? I think it’s not just a theory. It’s very much true and it’s happening,”

[Name] was confused, turning to Christine.

“What’s an Incursion?”

Mordo stepped forward, healing himself with a simple wave of his hand.

“An Incursion is when two realities are in a collision race. Stephen has been using the Darkhold for so long, using them to Dreamwalk between realities. He told you about the Mad Titan Thanos’ arrival, yes? It’s all true, [Name]. Strange used the Darkhold to Dreamwalk through multiple realities just to see if there was a possible way to kill Thanos. It’s only a matter of time until he arrives with his army,”

It was a lot to take in. [Name] was approaching her ninth month. She stumbled forward, Peggy caught her just in time. Her breathing was shortening, head growing more and more dizzy the more she forced herself to stay awake. She passed out in Peggy’s arms.

She couldn’t process everything. The world was at war, along with the Incursion happening. She felt so sick and shaken to the core.

It was never supposed to be this way.

Their love was never supposed to be this way.

But it’s the sweetest pain

Burning hot through my veins

Love is torture

Makes me more sure

[Name]’s eyes fluttered open, back to her painful reality. She held her abdomen, squeezing her eyes shut at the sharp pain. Water ran down her legs and she knew it was time.

She screamed in pain as another wave of pain washed over her. Nurses ran into her room, doing immediate checks on the woman.

Christine ran in shortly after.

“It’s time, Doctor Palmer,”

“Alright, people. Let’s prep the room!”

[Name] screamed again. It hurts everywhere. She wished Stephen was here for her, to be there for her while she brought their beautiful baby into this messed up world.

It felt like forever but when the wailings of a baby filled the room, [Name] felt more tears running down her cheeks, both of happiness and of sorrow. The doctor held up her crying baby, giving her a good clean before wrapping her up with a soft, white blanket. [Name] sniffled, reaching out for her baby and when she felt her little girl in her arms, more and more tears flowed. She looked up, Christine’s eyes were glossy as well.

“What’s her name?” Christine asked.

“Stefanie…Stefanie Faye Strange,” [Name] smiled, leaning down to plant a kiss on Stefanie's head. Her mind drifted to a distant memory.

“If we had a boy, we would name him after you. Vincent Alexander Strange. If we had a girl, Stefanie Faye Strange,”

Stephan laughed, leaning in. His lips brushed [Name]’s forehead in a light kiss.

“I like it. Anything for my dear, pregnant wife,”

She gave him a playful shove on his shoulder and he wrapped his arms around her torso, resting his forehead on her head as they watched the distant sun set from the roof of the Santorum.

Hours turned to days and days turned into a month and [Name] felt happiness with Stefanie. She reminded her so much of Stephan. From her eyes to her nose, everything.

The war was over.. The Incursion had killed billions now and it took a lot of strength and power to just bring it to a stop. When it did, trillions had died and their deaths were on Stephan’s shoulders.

Christine burst into [Name]’s room, panting.

“It’s over..It’s over,”

[Name] gasped, eyes wide as she felt hope. Hope in which she could see Stephen again.

“I want to see him,”

Christine frowned.

“[Name], I’m not sure-,”

“Christine..please.. I want to see him,”

The Doctor inhaled deeply, sighing before nodding. She could not do this to her friend.

After all, it would be the last time she would see Stephen.

Christine had brought Karl in as fast as she could..

[Name] held Stefanie in her arms, the baby was soundly asleep. She turned to Karl, swallowing.

“[Name], I strongly go against your decision-,”

Christine gave him a look and he closed his mouth. He sighed heavily, swallowing. With both hands raised in, he moved a hand in a circular motion to open a portal.

As it widened, [Name] could see the aftermath of everything. Bodies of alien beings strewn around, lifeless along with heroes that had died in the middle of battle. She stepped through, looking back to see Karl and Christine with saddened looks on their faces.

Why were they sad? [Name] didn’t understand why. The war had stopped, the Incursion had stopped and Stephen was hopefully out of the Book’s hold. Shouldn’t it be a happy occasion despite their losses?

[Name] turned ahead, seeing four figures and Charles in the distance. There was a figure on his knees and she knew who it was.

[Name] gasped, tears pooled in the corner of her eyes again as she rushed over to the group.

“Stephen!” She yelled.

Four heads turned in her direction and Stephen was staring at her.

“[Name]..[Name]!” He stood, running towards her. Maria stepped forward to try and stop Stephen but was stopped by Charles.

Stephen stopped short of her, his expression broken and face bloodied. That’s when he noticed a little wrapped bundle in her arms. His eyes heated up, tears flowed as he fell to his knees. [Name] kneeled in front of him, careful of little Stefanie as she pulled Stephen in for a hug. She cried on his shoulder and so did he, pain and sorrow released as they cried together.

When Stephen pulled away, his shaking hands gently cradled Stefanie’s head.

“I’m sorry..I’m so, so sorry..I cannot take back what I did, [Name]. I’m so, so sorry,” Stephen’s voice cracked as he looked back up, capturing [Name]’s lips in a deep kiss. She returned in and it felt like home once again.

“Meet our baby girl, Stephen. Meet Stefanie Faye Strange,”

[Name] tilted her arms slightly, showing the baby to her husband and she heard him audibly gasp.

“She looks so much like you, Stephen..I-I..God, I miss you so much,”

Stephen cracked a small smile.

“I miss you too, honey. So, so much,”

Stefanie wriggled lightly, opening her eyes to reveal the exact same blue as his own. He felt his heart crack as the baby studied her father.

“Stefanie, say hi to daddy,” [Name] cooed softly. Stephen brought a black finger to the baby, she grabbed it almost immediately. He let out a soft sob, leaning into plant a soft kiss to Stefanie’s forehead.

“I love you two so much.. What I did, I thought it was the right thing to do. I wanted to save you, to save our baby from danger. I went too far and the deaths of many rest on my shoulders. I have to pay the price, baby,” Stephen swallowed the lump in his throat. [Name] shook her head.

“You’ve already paid it. Just come home to me, to Stefanie. Please.. I can’t live without you. Stephen, please..,” [Name] pleaded, cupping Stephen’s cheek with a hand. He leaned into it, turning his head to kiss her palm.

“I love you so much. I love you and Stefanie so much. I love you and Stefanie in this universe and every..I’m sorry,”

Stephen pulled away, standing up. She stood as well, a hand held her elbow.

“Take care of her, Mordo. Watch over her and Stefanie. Please, old friend?”

Karl pursed his lips, nodding slowly as he too was filled with sadness.

“Take her back..She doesn’t need to see this,” Stephen smiled, taking [Name]’s hand in his.

“Wait, wait, no. Where are you- What are you going to do to him? No! Wait! Wait!!” [Name] wailed. Stefanie sensed her mother’s distress and cried aloud as Karl slowly tugged her struggling form back. Stephen slowly let go of her hand, turning away and returning to the group.

He kneeled down before the five, breath shaking and heart heavy as the sound of his wife and baby’s wailing slowly disappeared. Everyone sympathised with the family but Stephen had to pay. Even if it meant killing him so no one would know what he had done.

“I shall miss you, old friend,” Charles spoke with a heavy heart. He didn’t want to do any of this. None of them did.

Stephen lifted his head to see his wife trying to get away from Karl as Christine held his baby. She dropped to her knees just short of the portal, screaming for Stephen’s name and begging for him.

Stephen squeezed his eyes shut and nodded.

This was it.

This was the end.

“I’m ready,”

The last thing [Name] saw just before the portal closed was Blackagar’s soundwave striking her husband and she felt so very numb, endless tears flowed till no end.

Her heart could never be mended.

Tears will always fall.

For she will never see her husband ever again.

Only love can hurt like this

[heliads]

I have a request for dr strange

The reader is helping defeat thanos but he doesn’t want her out there with the team and is worried about her getting hurt

dr strange my beloved

masterlist

You are going about your business as per usual when the man crashes through your roof. Your first thought, other than the expected startled response, is that you’re fairly sure this shouldn’t have happened. Surely the New York Sanctum would have at least a few spells to make sure it couldn’t be crushed by falling humans, right? And, if not, can you add some, like, now?

You reluctantly stop the spell you’ve been casting and start to make your way down the main staircase. The receiving area of the Sanctum is now a mess, with dust choking the area from the gaping hole in the ceiling. The falling man managed to punch through the ground as well, and you stand at the edge of the chasm, looking down at him somberly. 

He’s a strange man, no doubt about that, although you have to admit that any man who finds himself capable of becoming a human asteroid would be strange. For one thing, he’s got no shirt, and is now looking around himself feverishly. His skin is tinted a pale green, not just from nausea, although it’s starting to fade as he gets better control over himself. 

You click your tongue thoughtfully. “Stephen should hear about this,” you say aloud. 

Although you mostly meant to keep the concern to yourself, a voice still answers from behind you. 

“Stephen had already heard about this. It was kind of hard to miss the sound of our roof collapsing.”

You chuckle at that, and turn to see your boyfriend descending the stairs. Stephen Strange may be the Sorcerer Supreme, but you swear his best gift is still at sarcasm. 

You gesture a hand towards the man, as if this was somehow your doing. “What are we supposed to do with him?”

Stephen glances at the man with the air of someone who’s accidentally opened the door too long and allowed a moth to fly inside his home. “Well, get him out of the Sanctum floors, I suppose. Maybe question him after that.”

You nod solemnly. “Sounds good to me.”

The man has barely begun to start shuffling around in the crater of his own creation, and his voice rises in shock as you open a portal around him. The man falls through the ring of glowing sparks and ends up a few feet away from you. If anything, this makes him look even more surprised, although you fervently believe that he should at least thank you for retrieving him. 

His voice is stammering at first. “Uh—ah—where am I? Who are you?” Then he gains confidence, but an exhausted sort of confidence that makes it clear he’s been through enough trouble that he can’t even bear to think about normal social constructs anymore, too terrible is his level of stress. “Something is coming. Something bad.”

You exchange glances with your boyfriend, then Stephen steps forward. “What do you mean, ‘something bad?’ What’s bad?”

The man rubs a tired hand over his face, although it only serves to smear the grime around. “Thanos. Thanos is coming, and he just killed, like, a bunch of Asgardian gods. Oh man, we’re so screwed.”

Eventually, you’re able to get a little more out of him. The man is Bruce Banner, also known as the Hulk. Stephen manages to remain neutral about that, despite the fact that you’ve definitely heard him ramble on about Dr. Banner’s incredible work with gamma radiation at least a couple times before. You suppose that the current predicament is enough to convince anyone to set aside their idols for the time being. 

The current predicament, as it turns out, kind of sounds like the end of days. Thanos, some massive alien, is coming to Earth with an army to wrest the last few Infinity Stones from the people protecting them, regardless of the cost. Seeing as one of these very infinity stones is currently hanging around the neck of your boyfriend, you’re obviously not too thrilled about the whole idea. 

Besides, in the event that Thanos succeeds, he’ll carry on his mission to destroy half the life in the universe. That’s unthinkable. Banner is calling in a couple friends from the Avengers, and after that you’ll have to come up with some sort of game plan to prevent all of this from happening. The only problem, of course, is that this sounds pretty much impossible. Wherever Thanos goes, he wins. Always. Who are you to think that your planet will be different?

You still have about half an hour or so before all of the players in this grand game start to come together, so you do your best to distract yourself by getting ready. Wong is already out alerting the other Sanctums, although he’ll come back once you and Stephen get Tony Stark. Right now, you just need a little more time to get everything in order. Once Stark gets here, you’ll start rolling for real, and everything has to be ready. There will be no time for tracking down spells once the Avengers start to come together.

Speaking of which, you should make sure you’re able to get in contact with Tony Stark when the time comes. You reach for your sling ring so you can make the portal at a moment’s notice, but it’s gone. For a moment, your mind lances with confusion. Could you have dropped it somewhere, or left it back at the library?

A more likely story occurs to you a moment later, and you turn yourself towards finding your boyfriend instead of finding more sources of magic. Stephen is prepping Banner on what they’ll do when Thanos comes, although he follows you out into the hall once you gesture that you need to talk.

Once in a separate room, you fold your arms across your chest and stare Stephen down. “You know, I just realized that my sling ring is missing.”

To his credit, Stephen does his best to pretend he doesn’t know what you’re talking about. At least he commits to the act. “That’s upsetting. Did you leave it back in your quarters?”

You arch a brow. “No, I didn’t. You know what would be really crazy is if you took it from me because you were afraid I’d get too involved in your plan to take down Thanos.”

Stephen’s gaze takes on a minute shade of panic. “Yeah, that would be crazy, wouldn’t it? It’s a really good thing that isn’t the case.”

You give him a look, and he sighs. 

“Alright, alright. I took it. Look, I just can’t have you getting hurt, alright? The more Dr. Banner talks about this Thanos guy, the more I’m realizing that we really don’t have a good chance at winning. I cannot lose you, Y/N.” Stephen confesses.

You reach out impulsively and take his hand. After all this time, Stephen’s gaze still flinches to his fingers; they may have healed or at least grown more functional with magic, but he still can’t push that ill-fated car accident out of his head. Despite all his bravado, his shiny spells, and his relentless ego, there’s still a man inside that is terrified that he isn’t anything he claims to be. Sometimes, you swear Stephen looks at himself in the mirror and only sees a fraud, the same broken freak who hadn’t even been able to pull himself out of his wrecked car.

That may be why he’s so afraid to lose you, but it’s still not an excuse that you’ll allow. “You’re forgetting that I have a say in this too, you know. I am still a Master of the Mystic Arts, and that means Thanos should be far more scared of me than we are of him.”

Stephen sighs. “It’s easy to say it, but what happens when we’re actually out there? You heard Dr. Banner, the guy slaughtered a ship full of Asgardians like they were nothing. Those were actual gods with actual powers, too. We’re just human, Y/N, we have no immortality to save us. How are we supposed to fight something like that?”

You do your best for a reassuring smile. “We fight it the same way we fought Dormammu or Kaecilius or any number of the other world destroying foes we’ve faced in the past: with hope. This could go awfully, but I’d rather know that I did something to try and stop the apocalypse. If I have to sit here by myself and gather dust while you risk your life, I’d never forgive myself.”

“I’d never forgive myself if you died,” Stephen counters, “What about that? What happens when you do something stupidly heroic like sacrifice yourself to save the lot of us, and I have to return here and know that it was all my fault? How am I supposed to live here and remember you in every spell I cast?”

You squeeze his hand gently, but your stare is resolute. “I suppose the only solution is that I still fight but don’t die. I’m perfectly willing for that to happen. In fact, it’s the only solution I’ll tolerate, so don’t give me that look. Stephen, we are both doing this. We’re sorcerers, and that means we fight, both of us, so we can make a world that’s safe for later. I am glad that you care about me, obviously, but I’m not backing down from this.”

Stephen’s lips thin. “You’re incredibly obstinate sometimes, you know that?”

You flash him a smile. “I learned it from the best.”

That makes him chuckle, even though his face is still drawn from the stress of what is to come. “I’m just worried, alright? Worried we’re not going to win this one.”

You nod. “I know. Thanos is probably going to be the hardest enemy we’ll ever face, but at least we’re facing him together, right?”

At last, Stephen seems to accept this. “That’s right. Hey, if I have to go out because of a Mad Titan, at least my last sight will be you.”

You roll your eyes, although you’re smiling like a giddy schoolgirl. “You’re incredibly dramatic, you know that?”

Stephen steps forward and presses a kiss to your forehead. “I learned it from the best. Now come on, let’s sort this whole thing out before any more Avengers decide to aim their crash landing at the Sanctum. I think the roof can only take so many hits for one day.”

He brushes another kiss to your knuckles, then leads you out of this room. Truth be told, you’re just as scared of this fight as Stephen. Few enemies are ever as easy as they seem, and Thanos already seems like the end of days. Still, at least you have Stephen by your side. At a time like this, that is everything.

marvel tag list: @thatfangirl42, @rogueanschel, @mycosmicparadise, @ellobruv, @caswinchester2000, @with-inked-solace, @sher-lokid7, @amortensie, @23victoria, @watchreadfangirlrepeat, @gods-fools-heroes

[im-akira]

𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 - « 𝐹𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐷𝑜𝑢𝑏𝑡𝑠 - I »

Stephen Strange / Christine Palmer / Newborn

Summary : The birth of their child is just around the corner, as are Stephen's fears and doubts. The Sorcerer Supreme finds himself for the very first time in his life in a situation in which he is not accustomed.

Warnings : Fluff.

Chapters : I / II

Do not : Claim, Repost, Copy, or Translate my stories anywhere else.

I apologize in advance but English is not my mother tongue. 💙

A few years ago…

It's been several months now since Christine told Stephen that they were going to be parents. To her surprise, her husband was in heaven even if before all this, a voice deep inside him often repeated that he was not ready to have a family in the years to come. Today he has a completely different vision, as on the number which does not matter to him, or as the sex of the baby, Stephen left this decision to the future. Despite his title, that didn't stop him from giving Christine time over her final months. He often tended to give too much importance to others without caring about his own happiness, now it was time to change that.

As the birth of the baby comes in a very short time, doubts and fears invade Stephen’s mind. He arrived a few weeks before D-Day. Now he’s with Christine at the hospital, where she works as a surgeon. Although Stephen has a lot of power and knowledge, he and Christine have chosen to entrust their child’s life to professionals. Christine trusted her colleagues and Stephen trusted his wife.

The young couple was installed in a room where, luckily, there was no neighbor on the other side of the bed, they were alone and that suited them perfectly. Contrary to usual, Stephen is the talkative type, but the more the minutes passed, the more Christine could see her husband walking in circles in the room. He was stressed, he was scared, strange isn't it for a Sorcerer Supreme who's fought a lot in his life ?

- « Honey, going in circles isn’t going to make you less stressed, please come closer. » Your Christine was sweet and soothing. Stephen could feel through his words of exhaustion, carrying a baby for long months is not easy. And yet she remained incredibly strong.

Without a word, Stephen finishes his walk and joins Christine near the hospital bed. When his gaze meets his, he understands what she expected of him. In a clumsy gesture, his trembling hand will slip into that of his companion. Stephen’s hand was cold, unlike Christine’s.

- Christine could feel all the tension Stephen's body was going through just by holding his hand. It was almost as if he was fighting against himself, he was on uncharted waters even though in the past he had had years in medicine. Today, or rather in a few hours, he was going to be the father of a little boy or a little girl, quite simply. « Hey Stephen. »

- His gaze does not leave her for a second, Christine had his full attention. « Yes Dear ? »

- Through a breathless gesture, she will sit up in bed and shake her husband's hand even more, giving him a sweet smile. « I know that the arrival of this child greatly frightens you, it is also my case. But I chose you, I saw a light in you, a light you may not yet see. You are perfect for me and you will be just as perfect for our child. You are not alone and we will be together in this ordeal, okay ? »

- The words of his companion will come to cross his mind and tell him quite simply that she is right. Everything may not be perfect, but they will be together to take care of the well-being and the future of this child. « I don't know what I will become without you, my love. » Stephen keeps his wife's hand tight and comes to the aid of the other to hold her face together. His lips will meet hers with passion and love.

- Christine couldn't help letting a slight smile appear on her lips at this gesture, so short but full of attention. No one is perfect, and Christine chose Stephen with his faults and qualities. After this exchanged kiss, the young mother shifts slightly on her right side to make room for her husband, she wanted him close to him until the last minute. « I made room for you, Stephen. »

Seeing Christine's gesture, Stephen does not waste another minute to settle down next to her. His arm will be placed behind the pillow to support him. This pillow helps her to have a straight back, so that she feels pain as little as possible and now she has the support of her husband.

While the other arm or rather his hand will come to rest on his belly and make gestures from top to bottom. The little being will come to react to the contact of Stephen's hand with a few kicks. The young couple could not help laughing at this precious little moment. Stephen will come and put a little kiss on Christine's head while continuing his gesture on the bump. They both had smiles on their faces and both were eager to see the face of this little angel.

The chapter was short but a second part arrives. Thank you so much for reading ! ☺️

[make-me-imagine]

Headcanons: The moments they realize they have feelings for you; Part Two.

Headcanons: The moments they realize they have feelings for you; Part Two. 

Part One Here (Thor; Loki; Steve Rogers; Bucky Barnes; Sam Wilson; Tony Stark; and Bruce Banner. )

Let me know if there are characters you might want in a Part Three. 

Pairings: Gender Neutral Reader x Wanda Maximoff; Natasha Romanoff; Clint Barton; Stephen Strange; T’Challa; Vision; Peter Parker (Aged Up; 18+). 

Wanda Maximoff: 

Wanda felt a connection with you during the battle of Ultron when you and Clint made her realize that she was worthy of being good. Afterwards you worked with her during her training to become an Avenger and she knew she felt strongly towards you but wasn’t exactly sure what the feelings she had were exactly.

It didn’t really click in her brain until the accords were struck. She felt trapped and dangerous and you came to her and told her “Just because you can be dangerous doesn’t make you bad. Your good intentions and your morals prove who you are Wanda. You are not bad. You are good to your core, you just need more time to learn how to fully be who and what you are. One day, you’ll see what I do.” That was the moment she realized just what her feelings were, not just friendship or gratitude, but the beginnings of love. 

Natasha Romanoff: 

You and Nat had known each other for a long time, and were good friends and always had each others back. It wasn’t until you both joined the Avengers that she began to notice things she didn’t before. How truly compassionate you were, and just how much you wanted to be good and help people. 

After the battle of New York when she met back up with you, seeing that you were both safe. She knew something had changed, she didn’t see you the same way she had before. Seeing how much you gave in battle and how strong you were for others, made her feel more confident and worthy of being an Avenger. From that moment on, she knew that you meant much more to her than before.

Clint Barton: 

You had been recruited to join the Avengers and and that’s when you first met Clint. He took a liking to you immediately, thinking you were funny, smart, and had good strategic thinking and weren’t as brash as some others on the team *cough*Tony*cough*. You and Clint had similar personalities and morals, and he appreciated this a lot and made him have a soft spot for you pretty quickly. 

He accepted that he developed feelings for you towards the end of the battle when he really saw you using your abilities up close. You were stronger than the others expected and you worked hard. You didn’t give in to your exhaustion and did your best to help everyone around you. You and Clint fought side by side at the very end of the battle and he knew that he would want you with him in any battle he had to fight. 

Stephen Strange: 

You met Stephen during the battle with Thanos, you didn’t interact much with him, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t noticed you. Though he was a bit too preoccupied to do anything about it. But afterwards, when you won and brought everyone back, you ended up finding Stephen at the sanctum. Most of the Avengers and SHIELD thought it would best if you became allies with the likes of the Sorcerer Supreme, and you were acting as a go-between. 

This amused and excited Stephen when he learned why you were there. So, he began to explain to you what he could about his purpose and job. He learned early on that you could keep secrets and were very trustworthy. He also sensed a hidden power in you and tried to teach you some magic. He felt a true connection and true romantic feelings for you the first time you were able to open a portal and you grinned with excitement at him. He quickly realized that he was well past the point of letting you go. 

T’Challa: 

You met T’Challa during the issue with the accords. He had heard of you before since you were a member of the Avengers. You talked to him after the death of his father and even through his rage and mourning he was grateful for your kindness. 

If you were on Tony’s side during Civil War: He was glad that you were on his side, and found you to be courageous and strong. Though he was preoccupied with trying to get to Bucky, he did notice how skilled you were and it heightened his attractions. After what happened, he spoke to you about how he found Zemo and you told him how glad you were that he did not let his rage and want for revenge to destroy him. When you said this he realized that he was growing much more fond of you than he thought. 

If you were on Steve’s side: He was disappointed that he had to fight you, but did so anyways, hoping that you would maybe change your mind. He saw how hard you fought during the airport fight, and you managed to corner him, telling him that he was wrong about all of it and that he needed to see through his anger. He regretting fighting back and hurting you. And after it was all over, and he saw the errors of his ways. He thought you had disappeared after Steve had broken you out of prison, but you ended up coming with Steve and Bucky to Wakanda. When he saw you arrive he was grateful to see you again and noticed how his feelings changed a great deal. Even prompting him to ask you to stay in Wakanda for a while. 

Vision: 

You were one of the main people to help Vision deal with his creation and him figuring out just who and what he was. He quickly gained a trusting bond with you and found himself wanting to be around you often. For a long time he was not sure what these “feelings” were, or if they were truly real. 

One day, when he saw you particularly peaceful, reading a book in the window, he felt an unusual emotion come over him that prompted him to question himself further. He explained the feeling to Steve while he was at the compound one day and Steve said it sounded remarkably like “attraction” or even “love”. This was when Vision truly felt the most human he had ever felt. Because he knew that love or just attraction was one of the base and more important parts of living creatures. Though he was unsure of what to do after than, he was grateful to you for making him more than he was before and knew that he wanted to explore these emotions further. 

Peter Parker (Aged Up):

You and Peter met in high school and were friends for a long time. You were even one of the first people to learn that he was Spider-Man. You were separated after high school when you went to a different college. Peter felt strange after this, and began to wonder if there was more to his friendship with you that he had not noticed. You still stayed in touch, but he was hurting more than he let on, as were you.

A few years later you surprised Peter at his Aunt’s house and the second he saw you he felt so extremely happy. You were both older now, adults. And he knew once and for all when he set his eyes on you again that there had been more to his feelings for you before. You caught up on what you two had been doing, besides the Spider-man’s antics that you had seen all over the news. And the whole time Peter knew that he could not let you leave him again without telling you how e felt. He would not let himself make that mistake again. 

xx

Everything Tag: @criminaly-supernatural​, @caswinchester2000​ Marvel Tag: @aquariuslavenderhoney, @trashywritestrash, @groovyfluxie, @marvelouslyme96, @supersourlemon13, @mochamoff, @simsiddy

[doctorofmagic]

@cannibal-wings​ said:

I like to imagine Victor's arm is around Stephen, even if that's not what's going on.

wdym you like to imagine it? Is it NOT what’s happening? wooiewoiioai I mean, maybe not, but Victor’s arm is UNDER the Cloak of Levitation, which definitely means he’s propping Stephen’s back at the very least 😌

@digicom-online​  said:

The preview is here: https://www.comicsxf.com/2022/07/21/meet-the-sorcerer-supremes-hot-mom-in-our-exclusive-preview-of-strange-4/

I am amused to note that Clea has followed up on her comment in issue #1 and enchanted a suit of armor to act as doorman. ;)

I just saw the preview but I noticed the same thing about the armor haha. I’m gonna post it in a jiffy along with the solicitations!

@mattmurderock​ said:

i’ve been thinking the exact same thing about his interviews. same page besties 👯‍♀️

It’s what every screenwriter keeps saying. “Show, don’t tell.” Waldron can’t do the basics :S glad we're on the same page about this, sometimes I’m afraid I’m being too critical :S

@couldntbedamned​ said:

Honestly my hopes of the MCU doing  characters like Victor Von Doom or Magneto justice are on the ground and I'm sure it'll find a way to dig itself down to hell. Jewish and/or Romani rep is basically non-existent and Victor's Romani heritage is every bit as informative of his character as being a Jewish Holocaust survivor is to Magneto.

I’m with you, sadly. They did the absolute minimum to Marc’s heritage and barely explored his relationship with his father, which is fundamental to Marc’s character till this very day. Wanda and Pietro are atrocities as well, and I can’t remember if they addressed Magneto’s heritage in some of the “new” X-Men movies at some point (because really, I only watched those once so I’m not sure but I also remember a flashback with Erik in a concentration camp but my memory is really foggy about it, sorry). Anyways, this is pathetic all the same because this is PRECISELY what drives Magneto as a character, not a minor detail.

I also wrote a full thread on Victor because, just like Magneto, being part of a persecuted minority is the driving force that shaped these characters.

I’m trying my best to spread awareness but the constant racism, especially when you address the whitewashing in F4 fancasts, is exhausting.

I can’t deal with another Wanda situation, for real. The never-ending racism by Olsen stans is overwhelming and it pains me to see that the MCU is about to commit the same mistake with a fave of mine. I’m so done, I’m really dropping my excitement as a viewer (and thank the Vishanti I’ve never been a fan of the live actions oof)

PS: I’m also gonna leave this thread on Wanda to keep spreading awareness.

@prettywitchiusaka​ said:

Can't say I blame you. My hope is that Ben will pull rank and demand a different writer for the next film. Because while I like Multiverse, I do have issues with it and feel like Waldron should probably be kept away from anything DS related.

I wish I had hope that would happen, but I’m always scared since they only care about money, not quality ;-;

@strangeprincex​ said:

I mean, Waldron’s already been pulled off Loki for Star Wars (which…🙄), so I hope that means he’s off Marvel projects going forward. But I’m feeling the same level of exhaustion with Marvel and its fandom. I’m here for Strange, Loki and not much else.

Omg, really? That’s good news, and as long as Waldron just writes a random tv show for SW not realated to Mandalorian or Andor, I don’t mind it haha. But hopefully another one comes for DS3.

[wyrdle]

Just wanted to pen down how goddamn mentally/emotionally resilient Stephen is as a superhero in both mcu and comics (hence why I like him haha).

He's the only one who can actually say he's died over and over again for the earth. He's also willing to do it all over again for humanity's survival (and no one would ever know, nor does he want them to).

Would he sacrifice himself for others? Of course, he's done it before. But would he sacrifice his friendships? His loved ones? The answer is yes. Being sorcerer supreme is a heavy and lonely burden, of cosmic existential horrors. It's also a very morally grey one.

With the ability to see the future, would he decide to pre-emptively cull future threats? Most probably. It's a dangerous, dangerous line of thought. I have no doubt it weighs heavily on his mind as an ex-doctor with oaths to do no harm and not play god. Being a Hippocratic hypocrite is just part and parcel to the title of sorcerer supreme. I'm sure he tries his hardest and exhausts all options prior to these decisions, but he makes them nonetheless.

Doctor Strange is badass and strong not simply because of his intelligence, wit and array of spells. Plenty of Marvel's superheroes possess all those qualities, potentially even greater than Stephen. But his arc of surrendering into being a "speck in this multiverse" and doing his damn hardest for an unknowing and thus, ungrateful, universe appeals to me so much.

[doitwritenow]

Supreme Super family gets sucked up into WandaVision(let's imagine Tony's alive in this or is from the multiverse). Ironstrange think they're married with a high school kid. Tony is a science teacher, strange is town doctor, and peter is a regular kid. No memories of they're real life. Rhody, Pepper, and Aunt May and Morgan could be added to this too if you wanted.

OHHO! Sorry it took me so long to reply to this; I had to finish the show, for one thing, and then my brain started going all sorts of places with the prompt... and well. I have on heck of a ramble coming, so buckle up! 

(Also, spoilers through the series, so watch out!) 

— — —

It starts with a question on Vision’s job application.

That’s all. So simple, so innocuous, so innocent. Vision is casually recording information that he doesn’t yet realize he can’t remember, and he arrives at a line that asks his family history. It’s nothing complex, left on the application only because Wanda’s subconscious had glossed over the question. So does Vision’s, as a result. But he wants this job. They want to fit in, and so they answer the question truthfully.

Vision writes ‘Stark’, unaware. ‘Tony Stark.’

And pop. Just like that. 

On the edge of Westview, there suddenly is and has always been a small, well-kept mechanic’s shop. It’s run by an aging man with a bright mind and a brighter smile. He’s lived here since he came back from the war, but no one knows for how long. And he has no memory—no memory at all—of what came before. 

Of the round scar in the center of his chest. 

He doesn’t need to know. No one needs to know; he’s just a side character, after all. Just the answer to a line on a job application.

Just so that something, anything, about Vision’s life here isn’t a lie. 

-

Yeah, so Tony gets manifested within the Hex—but because he’s one of Wanda’s creations and not someone being mind-controlled, he is able to exist with agency within Westview. He has no reason, however, to believe anything is amiss; he’s been resurrected only to play a character, and his memories and surface-level motivations only extend to the limits of that character.

But Wanda has other regret. Wanda has other anger and understanding and forgiveness and gratefulness, and she knew Tony Stark, once. 

She knew his worst nightmare—and it’s easy to craft a soul from that, really.

(But it’s fine, of course it’s fine. Tony has no reason to pull down the walls of that hidden spirit. He’s content in his role, just like Vision. So it’s fine. 

… Right?) 

-

Agatha stands at the base of a towering barrier with her hands on her hips. One side of her mouth is quirked up into a considering, scheming smile, and her magic probes out around her curiously. This is the source of the power she’d felt; she’s sure of it. The spell work… the instinctual, unconscious spell work is so intense she can almost taste it.

How is it possible? What’s the secret? 

Agatha must know. And besides; this is the most interesting thing that’s happened to her since the seventeenth century. 

She’s about to reach out, about to cross into the heart of the magic, when she hears it. A footstep. Quiet and dark and making no attempt at stealth. 

Agatha grips her magic. “Who’s there?” she demands. 

Someone steps out of the trees. A human, Agatha thinks, though you can never be sure nowadays. He wears a hood of green and his hands are dark where they hang at his sides. 

“Witch,” the figure declares.

Agatha raises an eyebrow. “Can I help you?”

“Yes,” says Karl Mordo. “I rather think you can.”

-

Okay, cut to New York. Stephen Strange is exhausted, wrung dry trying to keep the edges of the universe from deteriorating now that the stabilization factors of the Infinity Stones have been destroyed. One task runs into the next, one morning into the night. One future into all the others. 

But Stephen likes the work; it keeps his mind in one place. He’s always alert these days. Always listening. 

So when someone calls out to him from New Jersey, he can hear.

It’s Mordo luring him in, of course, but he doesn’t know that yet. After Dormammu, and certainly after all those futures, Stephen has too much experience for Mordo to hope to get the better of. The old Master is still dedicated to his ‘too many sorcerers’ shebangerang, though, so he’s employed help. Maybe he can kill two birds with one stone. Two world-threateningly powerful magic users with one stone. 

Stephen follows the call, because of course he does. It sounds like a call for help; what else is he supposed to do? The kelpie situation in the Thames can wait. Wong waves him off, tells him to be careful without much hope of Stephen listening, and takes over the Sanctum for the few hours Stephen intends to be gone.

(It’s not for a few hours.)

-

But there’s someone else we should mention before we see what Westview has planned for Stephen. See, a certain spider-kid has just had his identity outed, and his only allies once called themselves Nick Fury and Maria Hill.

Nick Fury and Maria Hill, Peter discovers, are not Nick Fury and Maria Hill.

“You’re aliens?” Peter demands, his hands warding the space in front of him. 

Of course they’re aliens, part of him sighs. Of course. Why wouldn’t one more thing just go crazy in his life? Why let him remember what ‘normal’ even felt like? Why the hell not? 

“Er, yes,” says not-Fury. “My name is Talos. But we do still want to help you.”

Helping Peter doesn’t go according to plan. See, the Skrull try to approach SWORD for Monica Rambaeu’s help regarding the kid who saved their lives, but Monica has disappeared. 

Talos only turns around for two seconds. Really, it’s only a moment. But when he turns back, Peter Parker has disappeared, too.

-

“Woah.” 

Stephen stops, a hand coming up to shield his third eye as he squints into the absolute maelstrom of power swirling in a hexagonal wall in front of him. It doesn’t feel like the Order’s magic—not like something of the Mystic Arts. It’s something far more human and gritty. Stephen’s perception can’t extend through it. He frowns.

He takes a step forward, the Cloak swirling around his ankles, and begins to stitch his mental walls into place. His wards are strong, even unconsciously.

That’s probably what saves him, in all honesty. 

Two strong, human hands plant themselves in the small of Stephen’s back and shove him into the barrier. Stephen opens his mouth to yell, raises his hands to cast a spell— but blue and red are surrounding him now. Devouring him, now. They lick at his mind, slamming against unbreakable walls.

But they are unbreakable too. 

Stephen disappears. 

-

(Mordo used a portal to get behind him and knock him into the Hex, btw.) 

It’s those hasty mental walls that keep Stephen from being completely consumed into the Westview spells. He is not fully mind-controlled, nor is he left half-animated and frozen like most people near Ellis Avenue. But there is one main rule of Wanda Maximoff’s Westview, and that, Stephen can’t escape completely. 

‘No one remembers outside.’

Stephen doesn’t. In fact, he doesn’t remember anything at all. 

-

Tony Stark finds the man lying on the side of the road. He’s just finished dropping his kid Peter off at the Westview high school (it hasn’t occurred to him that it’s weird how he never sees the boy’s classmates. Or that Peter never seems to have stories from school. Or that the kid is always waiting in the exact same place that Tony dropped him off at whenever Tony comes to pick him up. Tony has no reason to think too hard; he’s just a side character—right?). 

“Uh, hi?” Tony pauses, the car puffing it’s irritation when he stops it too quickly. He cranks down the window and leans out. 

The man blinks, slowly, at the sky. He sits up hesitantly, like he hasn’t noticed Tony, and rubs his hand across his face. He pulls it away after a moment and frowns at it. Tony wonders why he looks so confused—it’s not like there’s anything wrong with the man’s hand. No scars or anything. 

“Hi, sir,” Tony says again. “Are you alright?”

The man jumps. He looks over at Tony—and there’s something weird about his eyes. Something… really weird. (Color, says a voice in the back of his mind that he hasn’t heard for a very, very long time. That’s color.)

“Who are you?” Tony asks. He parks the car completely now. 

The man looks down at his hands again. “I’m—” he begins. He’s frowning again.

“Come on now,” Tony encourages. “How hard can it be?”

The man tugs at the scarf around his neck—and it must be windier than Tony thought, because the edges of it are swaying as if of their own accord— and swallows. 

“I don’t know,” he says.

-

So of course Tony brings Stephen back with him. He prods at the man until Stephen manages to blurt out ‘Doctor Stephen Strange’ for no reason either of them can remember. But it makes Stephen relax, a little, to have it on his tongue. 

Tony catches Stephen staring at him after that. A lot. When he asks him why, Stephen has no clear answer; just a vague “you remind me of someone.” For Stephen’s part, all he knows is that seeing Tony gives him an indistinct sense of relief. Like he’d been missing someone deeply, and has now found it again. 

Still. He can’t quite put his finger on it. Just like he can’t quite put his finger on why his hands don’t hurt when he tries to write…

-

Vision visits Tony, sometimes, whenever he remembers, or whenever someone in the town mentions the old mechanic. He brings Wanda. They have fun, but Vision always goes home feeling slightly baffled. And Tony always feels like something hurts, deep in the center of his chest. 

Vision likes his adopted younger brother. (And Peter gets along just fine with the twins, too, when they come along, so Wanda doesn’t change anything about it). But when the man with the bright eyes stares at him with just a bit too much calculation on his face, Vision starts to be reminded of… things. Of suspicions. Of Geraldine and how she had no home and no history. And he doesn’t quite look Wanda in the eye that dinner. 

“What do you do?” Wanda asks, her voice a little hard, a little suspicious. Vision tries not to wince. Whatever it is she’s not telling him, this man at his father’s dinner table reminds her of it. 

Tony flips his fork, balancing it like one might a wrench. “Stephen’s a doctor,” he says.  

Wanda’s face flickers. “That’s funny,” she says blankly. “Because no one in this town ever needs one.” 

-

For a while, Tony Stark didn’t see anything amiss here. He was created, was consistent, was emptily and vaguely pleased. But Tony Stark is Tony Stark, whatever character he’s been told to play. Tony Stark wants to help people. 

And this man, this strange doctor with the eyes that would sometimes go blank for long minutes and the tears that would stain sharp cheeks for a reason he claimed not to remember, needs help.

So Tony Stark begins to scratch at Wanda’s walls. 

-

 “What do you mean he’s here?”

“I mean your little plan didn’t work,” Agatha says. She stands on the edge of Westview, speaking through a mirror of magic to the man outside. She’s liking this sorcerer less and less the more she works with him—but he has been rather helpful so far, so she continues to put up with him. 

“Does he remember?”

“No,” Agatha says. “The dad that Wanda made up for Vision has taken him in. It’s kind of adorable, actually.”

“Hm.” Mordo’s mouth twists. “You’ll finish the job?”

Agatha shrugs nonchalantly. “Sure. When I get around to it.”

“You don’t want to wait. Deal with Strange now, before he remembers how to be a threat.”

Agatha laughs. It’s brittle, fully conveying her hostility. “Ha, my good sorcerer, listen. Unless you want to come in here and do the job yourself, you’ll let me handle this my way.”

Agatha’s way involves getting to the bottom of things, of course. And that’s rather convenient… because Vision has begun to try to do the same thing. 

— — — —

Okay that’s all I have for now? The other bits are still solidifying in my mind, and it’s basically all Horrible Angst. I hope this scratches a little of the itch of your ask, though! Feel free, anyone, to add onto this if you’d like! I really enjoyed the show, and I think it has some really awesome AU potential. 

Thanks for the ask!!!

[discoscoob]

Your Judgement | Loki x Female Reader

Loki (Marvel) x Doctor Who

Loki loses control in more ways than one and secrets are revealed, leaving you with a decision to make.

Part Two | Part Four | Chapter Index

Words: 6.6k

Warnings: angst, threats, blood and injury (this makes it sound a lot worse than it actually is)

Read on AO3

Loki despised feeling out of control. Everyone had always told him how to behave, what to say, what to do, who to be and he thought he had finally escaped all that, he had found the power that he had always sought after, he finally felt a sense of ownership over himself and it was so quickly snatched from him right under his nose in the worst possible way.

 Sure it was suffocating on Asgard and yes he was being influenced by the mind stone on Midgard but he had never lost control quite like this before. Every movement he made wasn’t his own, his limbs moved with an invisible force, even the words coming out of his mouth weren’t his. He had been turned into a living and breathing puppet, to be used as a vessel to preserve the life of a deranged mortal who refused to die. 

 He was humiliated, how could he let a weak, insignificant Midgardian possess his body? He was a God and a supreme sorcerer, she should be no match for him but he struggled to force her out, she stubbornly clung on tight.

 The pressure in his head was intense, due to the fact his brain was being compressed to make room for Cassandra’s consciousness. For someone like Loki, who always preferred fighting with his mind over his fist, shaking someone out of his head should’ve been child’s play but the compression on his own mind was making it weaker which made him more vulnerable to her control.

 “I’m getting jealous ex vibes. I swear to God, Doctor, if my niece got possessed because you’ve got a jealous ex.” Donna warned the Doctor who looked like he was about to choke on his own saliva.

 “Her?” The Doctor screeched.

 “You should be so lucky.” Cassandra made Loki glare at the Doctor.

 “Let him go, Cassandra.” The Doctor ordered the consciousness possessing Loki.

 Cassandra made Loki pout. “And why would I do that? I finally found the secret to immortality.”

 “The psychograft you used is banned on every civilised planet, including this one, what you’re doing is illegal. All I need to do is take you into the city and hand you over to the authorities.” The Doctor warned.

 The force inside Loki’s mind made him laugh wickedly. “Oh Doctor, I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

 “Why not?”

 “You can’t hand me over without handing Loki over too.” Cassandra explained before she suddenly gasped as if finding out a secret. “Oh, he really doesn’t want that.”

 Suddenly Loki’s body jerked, as one would when you hit the emergency breaks and he quickly slapped his palm against the wall to steady himself as his breath came out in heavy pants.

 “Get out of my head!” Loki growled, he held his eyes shut tightly which caused his eyelids to crinkle as he clenched his teeth and brought the tips of his fingers up to his temple. He strained as he tried to maintain in control of his own mind, while Cassandra fought to regain dominance.

 “Loki? Listen to my voice. You can fight her. Hold on.” The Doctor encouraged Loki who let out a frustrated cry as he attempted to force Cassandra out of his head.

 You could see the pale golden mist slowly surround him like a halo as he continued to strain, you could see how much it was exhausting him, his already compressed mind was being pushed to its limits. 

 “That’s it, Loki, you’ve almost got her out.” The Doctor continued to encourage him, as he was really starting to struggle.

 Before he could completely expel Cassandra, Loki’s mind succumbed to the fatigue of using powers while being compressed and failed him as the gold essence sunk back into his skin and he collapsed to the floor. His chest rose and fell rapidly as he panted from the exhaustion.

 “That was a very foolish thing of you to do, Loki.” Cassandra addressed the God using his own voice which sounded tired from the strain of trying to force her out. “Don’t forget, I’m inside your head. I can see everything. There are things in here that I am sure you wouldn’t want your new friends learning about, so I’d advise you to behave.” 

 The Doctor, Donna and you, glanced at each other wordlessly, as the atmosphere instantly changed. Cassandra knew she had caught everyone’s attention as she flicked Loki’s hair out of his face and watched you all through his eyes as she forced the corners of his lips to lift into a wicked smirk.

 “What do you mean?” The Doctor took the bait, and Cassandra made Loki’s smile widen in twisted delight.

 Your chest tightened with anxiety as you worried about what Loki was hiding. You weren’t daft, you were fully aware that within the two days you had spent within the company of the God, it wasn’t enough time to properly know him and it definitely wasn’t enough time to trust him. However you couldn’t deny the fact that you had developed an attachment to him and the prospect of that potentially being cut short left a feeling of despair that was difficult to ignore. 

 “Let’s just say, the God of Mischief has been up to a lot of mischief.” Cassandra made Loki chuckle at her own joke as she forced him to climb back up onto both his feet. 

 Without warning the laughter abruptly cut short and with an unexpected jerk, Loki regained control. This time he moved without hesitation or delay as both his palms filled with glowing balls of green smoke and with a loud growl that caused you to startle, the light from his palms turned into an aurora which flowed halfway across your bedroom. The golden mist evaporated from his skin more rapidly this time, as it chased after the green light. You watched on, completely captivated as the gold and green swirled together and began to intertwine. Your focus was torn away when you heard Loki collapse to the floor, completely drained after focusing all his energy on removing Cassandra from his mind while using his magic at the same time.

 “Doctor.” You heard Donna whisper and you looked up at the pair to find your auntie rapidly tapping the Time Lord on his upper arm to get his attention, while she stared across your room, the Doctor’s eyes widened when he saw what she was looking at and you looked over to see what had grabbed their attention.

 “How clever!” A figure identical to Loki, spoke with wonder as it patted itself down to check it was a solid form. “I suppose this solves all our problems.”

 “Oh this isn’t a solution,” original Loki spoke with a heavy sigh as he was still trying to catch his breath and you turned your attention back to him. “You think I would let you remain in my form forever?”

 “Well, there are worse people to spend eternity with.” Cassandra, who you realised was in control of the Loki clone, shrugged.

 “I’d throw you into the nearest burning sun before I let you stay by my side for the rest of eternity.” Loki threatened his possessed clone, his tone harsh and abrupt. “You’re an insignificant and wretched mortal who has deluded herself with the notion that she is worthy of immortality but you are nothing but a worthless creature. You don’t even have your own form to sustain you and so you live off others, like a pathetic parasite, and if you think I will allow your revolting existence seek life support through my Godly form for a whole day, much less an eternity, you’re sorely mistaken.” 

 Loki had stalked towards his carbon copy, as he spoke his monologue with such a threatening force that it had even sent shivers down your spine, despite the fact that it wasn’t even directed towards you. 

 “You best pray that the Doctor doesn’t send the both of us away, because as soon as you’re alone with me no one will be there to protect you, and since you have been inside my mind, I am sure you are fully aware of the things I am capable of doing to you.” Loki finished, once he was stood mere inches in front of his double, who was now visibly cowering away from him. 

 The light of your bedroom reflected off the moisture which had built on the waterline of the duplicates eyes, as they stared into the Gods face with pure terror. 

 The cruel things Loki had said and the intimidating manner of which he had delivered them in, struck fear through your chest. His voice had dripped with pure threat and menace, even the tone he had used when you first met him and he had trapped you against that secluded wall, paled in comparison to the one he had just used towards Cassandra. 

 Loki had unleashed a side of himself that you had yet to see, or even knew existed, and you would be lying if the things he had called Cassandra didn’t sting, of course he could’ve been speaking to her as an individual but what if he held these views towards all mortals, were you merely viewed as ‘worthless creatures’ by the immortal God?

 “Loki, that’s enough.” The Doctor had sternly told him and you weren’t sure if you imagined it but could have sworn that you saw regret flash in Loki’s eyes as soon as he turned and saw you, the Doctor and Donna all staring at him. It seemed your presence had slipped his mind while he had succumbed to his more sinister side and now he was realising you had all just witnessed it first hand, on top of Cassandra revealing that he was hiding secrets which he didn’t want any of you to discover.

 Loki opened his mouth to try and say something but nothing came out, eventually he gave up and let his lips form a thin line as his head tilted downwards to avoid all your eyes.

 Silence laid heavily over the room as no one wanted to be the first one to break it, what could anyone possibly say after that? After a short period of time you heard footsteps softly tap against the floor and you looked up and saw Loki lower himself into your armchair. He rested his elbow upon the armrest and cradled his chin in his hand, covering his face from the nose down with his fingers as they anxiously rubbed over his lips. It appeared as though he had a million thoughts racing through his mind, you couldn’t help but wonder what they were.

 “I think, I would like to leave now.” Cassandra eventually announced.

 The Doctor had explained to her that he could take her into the city where they would provide her with a skintank for her consciousness to live in and she was more than happy to go anywhere the Doctor took her as long as it was away from Loki.

 “I thought you of all people, Doctor, would be careful with the kind of people you let travel with you.” You heard her quietly comment, as she made her way out of your bedroom, the Doctor paused under the doorway and looked at Loki, while he considered what Cassandra had said before he silently turned and followed her to the control room.

 “Are you coming?” Donna looked at you, ready to follow behind the Doctor. 

 You had noticed the way the Doctor looked at Loki and you realised he was considering whether or not he should allow him to stay on the TARDIS, before you turned your attention back to Loki, observing the way he seemed lost in his own world. 

 The way he had lost his temper had startled you, however you didn’t believe his reaction towards Cassandra was unwarranted. You knew exactly what it felt like to have her inside your mind, controlling your body like a puppet. It felt violating. You weren’t sure whether or not his threats toward her were empty, you were sure that was something you didn’t want to find out, but either way Loki hadn’t actually laid a single finger on her, so it seemed as though his tactic was just to frighten her. It may have not been the most conventional approach but it had worked and as a result the Doctor was now taking her to the city.

 “I think I’ll stay here.” You decided.

 Donna didn’t say anything but she glanced over to Loki, who was still slumped in your armchair, his gaze unmoving from the floor, and you understood that she was nervous to leave you alone with him.

 “I’ll be fine.” You assured her, despite the fact that you couldn’t say for certain that you would be, but you wanted to try and talk with Loki. You knew that there was a lot that the Doctor would want to discuss with him after he returned from the city and if you could talk with Loki beforehand, one to one, maybe you could help him.

 “If you’re sure...” Donna sighed, clearly not happy about leaving you alone with Loki but she knew that you were an adult and responsible for your own choices and she respected that. After leaving a kiss on your temple, she reluctantly made her way out your room. Pausing under your doorway she looked between you and Loki with a sigh and you could see the worry all over her face but you gave her a reassuring smile, which she returned, before she finally disappeared down the corridor to join the Doctor.

 You weren’t even sure if Loki was aware of his surroundings anymore as he had hardly moved an inch since he collapsed into that seat. He didn’t even seem to notice that it was only you and him left in your room as you cautiously made your way towards him. Once you were stood around a meter in front of him you stopped and he still hadn’t registered your presence, if he had, he wasn’t acknowledging it.

 “Loki?” You softly spoke.

 The God slightly jumped as his gaze caught yours, he looked startled before his eyes bounced around the room and then finally rested back on you.

 “Where is everyone?” He asked, his voice small, it was the softest you had ever heard him speak, you almost couldn’t hear him.

 “The Doctor and Donna have left to take Cassandra into the city.” You gently explained.

 “They left you alone with me?” Loki looked at you with disbelief and you looked down for a moment, realising Loki was more scared of himself right now than you were of him.

 “Loki, we need to talk.” You stated, your tone was still gentle but you tried to sound stern to make him realise you weren’t offering him a choice.

 “What is there to discuss? As soon as the Doctor returns he will hand me over to the TVA and I will be erased from existence.” Loki dismissed your proposal to talk.

 “You don’t know that.” You tried to reason, this time you crouched down, so you were balanced on the balls of your feet and you could talk to Loki from a more equal level. “I don’t know what the Doctor will decide to do when he returns but if you talk to me and explain everything, I might be able to persuade the Doctor to trust my judgment.”

 Loki seemed to consider it this time as he glanced at you, a frown formed over his face and his dark brows shadowed his eyes, which appeared to be filled with sorrow. He finally broke his eye contact with you to look down at his hands as he fidgeted with them between his spread legs.

 “Okay.” Loki agreed.

 You drew your lips together and looked around as you considered what you could address first and it was hard to ignore the one thought that was dominating your mind.

 “The things you called Cassandra... is that how you view all mortals... is that your view of me?” You asked Loki, now you were the one avoiding his gaze as you rubbed your eyebrows with embarrassment and kept your eyes on the floor.

 Due to the fact you weren’t looking at him, you missed the way Loki had instantly looked at you with eyes full of remorse, he hadn’t even realised that you might have connected his words towards Cassandra to yourself after he had addressed her as a mortal. His jaw was slack as he didn’t even know where to begin telling you how wrong you were and how you had singlehandedly gave him the power he needed to feel in control for the first time in his life.

 “Gods no!” Loki rushed to answer, mindful of the fact that if he allowed the silence to settle too long after you finished your question, it might have seemed like a confirmation that that was truly what he believed you were. 

 When you continued to avoid looking at him, Loki sighed as he pulled his palm down his face. He slid himself off of the armchair to make your heights more equal as he sank to the floor and sat with crossed legs, before he continued, determined to rectify your belief of how he perceived you. 

 “Listen to me, you hold so much power. You have done more for me in two days than anyone else has in my thousand years of existence and you don’t even realise it. I think what... daunts me the most about you all learning the things which Cassandra had mentioned I wouldn’t want you finding out, isn’t that the Doctor might end up taking me back to the TVA. It’s the fact that you will see me as everyone else does, validating that they were right about me all along, and when you inevitably do, it will strip me of the control I have felt over myself these last few days, because you were the one who bestowed it upon me. Someone who holds that much power could never be a worthless creature.” Loki confessed and you furrowed your brows as you lifted your head to look up at him, processing what he was telling you because it was a lot to take in, you weren’t even sure you understood what he meant. How could you have been the one who gave him his sense of control over himself, what had you even done?

 “How... how did I do that?” You asked in disbelief. 

 “Everyone I have ever known in my life has always decided who I was before even getting to know me, but you had no preconceived notions about me when we met. For the first time I had control over who I could be and who someone could see me as, you gave me that control.” He explained to you.

 “Loki, that sounds like manipulation.” You realised with alarm. “You can’t just control which parts of yourself you decide to let someone see and expect their perception of you to be an accurate one.”

 The God paused, seemingly taken aback as if he was realising this for the first time and once it sunk in he looked genuinely ashamed.

 “You can control who you are, but you can’t control how people see you and how people see you, doesn’t control who you are. Does that make sense?” You tried to explain to Loki, who was staring at nothing in particular as he attempted to grasp what you were telling him. 

 “But if everyone shares a certain view of me, how could that not possibly be who I truly am?” Loki argued.

 You paused for a moment, as you pondered over his question.

 “Do you believe this view people have of you to be true?” You asked Loki.

 He shrugged after he allowed himself to think about it for a moment.

 “Do you want it to be?” You asked instead.

 This time Loki didn’t need any time to think about his answer as he immediately shook his head.

 “Then, that must not be who you truly are, if it is not who you want to be.” You concluded.

 Loki looked at you with hopeful eyes before they fell to his lap as he thought about what you said.

 “I think you should tell me what it is that Cassandra said you didn’t want us learning about you.” You decided. You didn’t promise Loki that it wouldn’t change how you viewed him, that would be unwise since you had no idea what he was about to tell you, but whatever it was, you would allow him the opportunity to explain himself so that maybe you could understand.

 Loki swallowed nervously as his eyes fell to his hands and he focused on picking at some loose skin near the side of his nail. You observed him closely and you were astounded by how a powerful God could appear so vulnerable and so... human. When you saw his brows pull together with frustration as he was unable to figure out where to begin, you gently put your hand on his knee and gave him a small smile of encouragement.

 “I killed my father.” Loki finally confessed, just straight to the point as if he were ripping off a band-aid, “my biological father.” He added, to clarify. 

 Loki hadn’t delivered his confession with much emotion, however his chest and shoulders did fall ever so slightly, as if a weight was being lifted off of him. 

 As soon as the words fell from his lips, you retracted your hand from his knee and Loki lifted his eyes to watch your reaction, apart from breaking physical contact you tried to not react, keeping your expression as neutral as possible.

 “Why?” You eventually asked, sticking with your decision to let him explain.

 “To prove my loyalty to Odin – my adoptive father, and to Asgard.” Loki explained, before elaborating. “Laufey, my biological father, was the King of Jotunheim and an enemy of Asgard. The realms were on the brink of war after my brother, Thor, lead an attack on Jotunheim, as a result, Odin banished him to Midgard as punishment. During the attack, I had discovered my true heritage as a frost giant while fighting by my brothers side. When I confronted Odin about it, he told me he had found me abandoned in a temple on Jotunheim, during one of his attacks and he took me with the plan to use me to unite the two kingdoms and form an alliance. Suddenly everything made sense, why he had always favoured Thor, how could a frost giant ever be worthy? Much less the King of Jotunheim’s unwanted, bastard son.” Loki’s voice dripped with disgust and you saw moisture gather in his eyes but he quickly blinked it away before continuing. “After I confronted him, Odin collapsed and fell into Odinsleep. With Thor banished and the King in a deep sleep, Asgard was vulnerable. I knew it was my chance to show Odin that, despite my Jotun heritage, I could be just as worthy as my brother. So I tricked Laufey into believing I had betrayed my adoptive father by luring him to Asgard with the belief he could assassinate the King as he slept, but I killed him as he was about to plunge his spear into Odin’s chest.”

 Loki hadn’t planned to share so much, especially to someone he had only known for two days, but he found that with each word that poured out of his mouth, he felt lighter and before he knew it he couldn’t stop. 

 Except for sometimes his mother, he had never really known the privilege of being listened to. He didn’t know how you were going to react to what he told you but you had listened and he hadn’t realised how much he truly needed that until now.

 You were stunned to silence by everything you had just heard Loki tell you. What flooded your heart with so much sorrow that it weighed heavy in your chest, was the way Loki had spoken about himself being unworthy and unwanted, you had decided in that moment that you couldn’t let him be kicked off the TARDIS and abandoned again. After learning about the kind of example Odin set his two sons, you thought Loki’s actions were hardly surprising and despite what Loki had said about Odin favouring Thor, you couldn’t help but think about the fact that Odin had punished Thor for leading an attack on Jotunheim, when he himself had done the same. Instead of holding himself accountable and teaching his sons to not make the same mistakes he had, he let them follow in his footsteps and then punished them for doing so. He raised Loki to see his own father as an enemy and he kept the truth from him, and you imagined that he probably never would’ve told Loki about his true heritage had he not discovered it for himself.  

 You struggled to gather together the words which felt right to say in the moment, wondering what words of wisdom, which you had collected over your 20-something years, would be worth something to the centuries old God. Despite not knowing what Loki might have needed to hear, you knew of something that he needed, and that was a place to belong.

 “I’m going to talk to the Doctor as soon as he comes back and I’ll make sure you get to stay.” You promised him, as you once again returned your hand to his knee and offered him a reassuring smile. 

 Loki’s brows pulled together and his lips fell slightly apart, as he stared at your hand before his eyes travelled up your arm and connected with yours. He studied your expression carefully, trying to find any hints of fear, disgust or doubt. Being the God of lies, he could sense when people were lying or trying to deceive him, but you looked at him with nothing but sincerity. 

 Loki’s eyes dropped to your hand again and he was conflicted. He was in a state of disbelief over the fact that you still wanted to support him after everything he confessed, however you failed to realise that there was still one secret remaining to be divulged. You had assumed he revealed everything, he could have easily gone along with it and increased his chances of maintaining his place on the TARDIS. He would be lying if he said that wasn’t tempting, deceiving people was second nature to him, however when he looked back into your eyes and saw how much compassion they held towards him, compassion he was certain he didn’t deserve, he couldn’t find it in his heart to deceive you.

 Unlike almost everyone else in his life, you had shown him an unlimited amount of kindness and understanding. Most times when he tricked, double crossed or misled people, he believed they deserved it but to do that to you would just be cruel and it was not a level of cruelty which Loki possessed. 

 So, reluctantly Loki took a gentle hold of your wrist and removed your hand from his knee and returned it to your side.

 “I can’t let you promise me that.” Loki rejected you.

 “You’re right, I shouldn’t promise something which is beyond my control but–“ You misinterpreted what he meant.

 “No,” Loki quickly cut you off, “I can’t let you because there’s still one more thing I haven’t told you and I think once I do, you will change your mind.” Loki explained. 

 You remained silent, though you felt anxious about what he might confess, you were also struck by the fact he chose honesty. If he wanted to, he could have easily played along, let you believe he had confessed everything and secure his place on the TARDIS, yet he put it in jeopardy just to ensure that you weren’t misguided and you couldn’t help but admire that. You believed it was a testament to his character which you decided you wouldn’t let go unnoticed, while you nervously waited for him to reveal his final secret.

 “After everything that happened, Odin rejected me and I fell into the hands of a mad titan. I was without purpose, he used that to his advantage and I didn’t need much convincing to join his cause. He desired to posses more power than even the mightiest of Gods, with the use of all six infinity stones. He provided me with an army and instructions to deliver him the tesseract and in return he granted me access to the mind stone. It influenced my feelings and increased my desire for power and need to prove my worthiness, and so I used the army to attack New York city, in an attempt to take over Midgard and rule it as my own.” Loki confessed. 

 You should’ve been horrified, part of you definitely was, but it was heavily diluted by your confusion.

 “I... I don’t remember any of this ever happening.” You admitted, you were very certain that you would recall a God invading one of the most famous cities in the world with an army.

 “It hasn’t happened for you yet.” Loki explained.

 “Time is confusing.” You nervously laughed before you fell silent as you let what Loki told you really sink in. 

 He had attacked earth and attempted to rule over the human race. The way he spoke about it, implied that he didn’t succeed and surely if he was the King of Midgard he wouldn’t be sat on the floor opposite you right now.

 “What stopped you?” 

 “My brother and the avengers. They captured me but I got hold of the tesseract and used it to escape, I didn’t get very far before the TVA found me.”

 You had no idea who the avengers were but you assumed they were some sort of military organisation who were able to defeat Loki and his army, you imagined having the help of Loki’s brother on their side would’ve been a massive help. You considered the fact that when Loki spoke about being captured by them, he didn’t sound upset or angry about it, almost as if he didn’t really care that much about his plans for world domination. You recalled what he had said about the mind stone and how it had influenced his feelings and desires and you wondered how much it was responsible for his actions on Earth.

 “Do you think you would’ve still done it without the mind stone?” You asked him, because you considered this to be very important in judging whether or not you would advocate for his place on the TARDIS. If he believed he wouldn’t have done it without the influence of the mind stone, then his actions weren’t completely his own and therefore you wouldn’t expect him to take total blame for them.

 “No,” Loki furrowed his brows. “but I am a God, I should have not been so easily influenced.”

 “Loki, you might be a God, but you’re still a complicated and complex living being. You’re allowed to be vulnerable at times, you’re allowed to have flaws and make mistakes, you’re allowed to feel emotions and they will get the better of you and control you sometimes, it happens to all of us. Being a God doesn’t make you immune to it.” You told him, realising that Loki had a lot of work to do when it came to accepting his vulnerability.

 Loki remained silent, but it did at least seem like he was considering what you told him as he had a contemplative look on his face. Deciding to leave him in peace to think about it, you pushed yourself off the floor and began to make your way towards your door, but the broken glass, which Donna had dropped earlier, caught your attention.

 You crouched down to start cleaning it up, the bottom of the glass was still some what in tact which allowed you to gather all the broken shards inside it. As you were dropping one of the last pieces into the base of the glass, the broken side of the base pierced the palm of your hand.

 “Shit!” You cried under your breath as you quickly retracted your hand and cradled it close to your chest with your other. Blood was pooling in your palm and began running in singular drips down the side of your arm.

 Loki gasped your name and rushed over to you as soon as he noticed you were injured. Once he reached you, he lowered himself to his knees and held out his hands beside yours, but he didn’t touch you yet.

 “May I?” Loki politely asked for permission to look upon the damage caused to your hand.

 Reluctantly, you granted him access as you placed the balled up fist of your injured hand into his waiting palm. You hissed as he gently prised your fingers open and he mumbled a quick apology as he finally examined your wound.

 “Come on.” Loki encouraged you to your feet, with one of his hands under your elbow and his other still gently cradling your hand.

 You silently allowed him to move you, your eyes focused on him with wonder as he guided you into the en suite of your bedroom.

 Once he sat you down on the closed lid of the toilet, he left your side to run a fresh flannel under the faucet. Your eyes didn’t leave him once, as you watched every move he made. After wringing out the excess water of the flannel, he returned to your side and started tenderly cleaning up your cut. With all the blood cleaned away, Loki could properly inspect your wound.

 “It’s not too deep, I used to inflict much harsher wounds on my brother when we were children, a bandage should do.” Loki casually commented as if it were nothing, when he noticed your alarmed face he simply laughed.

 “Don’t worry, it wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle and he gave me his fair share in return. We’re much more resilient than mortals, it was the equivalent of human children pushing or kicking one another.” He assured you, as he opened the cupboard below the sink and searched for a first aid box.

 Your alarmed expression relaxed into a some what fond smile upon learning young Loki wasn’t actually inflicting grievous injuries upon his brother, as you imagined the siblings play fighting as children.

 “Are you close to your brother?” You asked Loki, as he returned to your side with a bandage and started wrapping your hand. For a few moments, silence fell between you and you began to think he wasn’t going to answer.

 “We used to be,” Loki finally answered, avoiding your eyes as he focused on bandaging your hand. “I admired him a lot, I still do, but I fear I have irreparably ruined our relationship.” 

 “I’m sure that’s not true.” You carefully argued.

 “I tried to kill his father.” Loki reminded you and your lips fell shut defeatedly.

 “If he is immortal, he will have plenty time to get over it.” You lightheartedly added, trying to avoid the tone of the conversation becoming too serious.

 “Maybe in 5,000 years or so.” Loki estimated as he tied off your bandage, you inspected his work while he tidied away the first aid supplies back into the cupboard.

 “I haven’t changed my mind.” You admitted to him while his back was turned to you. 

 Loki immediately paused his actions after hearing you, you caught his reflection in the mirror above the sink and watched as his expression filled with disbelief before he glanced at you from over his shoulder.

 “About... me?” He hesitantly checked, certain he had misinterpreted what you meant.

 You simply nodded and Loki looked downwards as a shy ever so slight smile curved on the corner of his lips.

  ***

  “So technically it’s New New New New New New New New New new New New York.” You heard the laughter of your auntie and the Doctor as the entered the TARDIS, and you made your way around the console.

 The Doctor stopped when you caught his eye and said your name, surprised to find you waiting in the control room, while Donna smiled at you from beside him.

 “I have to talk to you about Loki.” You told the Doctor.

 Donna’s smile instantly and was replaced with worry as her eyes dropped to your bandaged hand.

 “Did he hurt you?” She fretted, as she stepped towards you.

 “No,” You immediately assured her, glancing at your injured hand. “No, I cut myself on the glass you dropped.” 

 Donna looked down with guilt as she realised your injury was caused by her accident.

 “I think we should let him stay.” You immediately returned to your original point, deciding there was no need to dance around it.

 The Doctor sighed your name, as it seemed like he was about to disagree while Donna looked at you as if you had grown a second head.

 “Please, you can trust my judgment.” You gave your auntie your best puppy dog eyes and she tilted her head in contemplation before looking towards the Doctor, who seemed to be considering it as well.

 “What do you think?” The Doctor turned to Donna, “if you’re not comfortable with it...”

 Your auntie sighed in defeat after giving it some consideration.

 “Your judgement better be good.” She pointed her finger at you, and you smiled. 

 “It is, I promise!” At least, you hoped it was.

  ***

  Just like the night before, there came a knock on your door just as you were about to climb into bed and just like the night before, you were greeted by the sight of Loki when you opened the door.

 “Is this going to become a nightly occurrence?” You joked.

 “If you would like it to.” Loki played along.

 “So, to what do I owe the pleasure?” 

 Loki’s features dropped into a more serious expression and he took in a deep breath.

 “I realised that earlier I never got the chance to apologise.” Loki began, his hands were held behind his back, hidden from your view, so you couldn’t see the way he nervously played with them.

 “Apologise?” You questioned with a slight tilt of your head, wondering what he felt the need to be sorry for.

 “I know how violating it felt to have Cassandra inside your mind–“

 “That wasn’t your fault.” You cut him off before he could finish.

 “No, I know, but I kissed you,” Loki’s eyes were trained on the floor as he spoke and your mouth fell in the shape of an ‘o’ as you realised that is what he came here to apologise for. “And you weren’t in control–“

 “You weren’t to know,” you quickly reassured him, as heat rose to your own face as you both acknowledged what happened between you. “She kissed you first, you don’t have to apologise.”

 “Even so, I would like to,” Loki finally lifted his gaze to look at you, “I’m sorry, if you felt uncomfortable or...”

 You couldn’t admit it, but uncomfortable is not a word you would use to describe how kissing Loki had made you feel. Once the pressure had began to slip from your mind and your lips were still attached to his, you felt a wave of pleasure flush through your stomach while goosebumps rose on your skin leaving a tingling sensation in their wake. 

 You pulled yourself back from the memory as you nodded and offered Loki a smile and accepted the apology which he felt he owed you, while you tried hard to push your desire for the kiss you shared to be repeated, to the back of your mind where you hoped it would soon be forgotten. 

[cherryfinolahobbes]

Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness verse

Me plotting where Cherry goes in the multiverse of madness.

WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS! DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT WANT SPOILERS! DO NOT READ UNDER THE CUT! DO NOT READ THIS POST! DO NOT PASS GO! DO NOT COLLECT 200$!!!

(This may get expanded on if I get to see the movie a second time. This is being written shortly after the movie with everything that I can remember)

Cherry is Stephen's plus one for Christine's wedding. He needs the support of a friend. Of course there's friendly banter if Wong's going to propose as Wong and Cherry have just started to finally accept their feelings for one another.

It takes a lot for Cherry to hold her tongue during Dr. West's jabs. She instead squeezes Stephen's arm as they stand for the bridal march.

Cherry fades into the background while Stephen is at the bar, probably finding someone to chat with or someone corners her into chatting. She is still very recognizable as the late Tony Stark's assistant and her work through FEAST.

With the attack on America Chavez, Cherry uses her new powers imbued to her by the goddess. She is still learning how to tap into them, but can make shields and domes easily. She mostly does this to help Stephen, America, and Wong as they defeat the monster. She is by no means OP and is still hesitant to full tap into Florence (the goddess) gifts. She mostly sticks to defensive stuff.

Needless to say, Cherry adores America and adopts her on sight as she does with most people.

While preparing for Wanda's attack, Wong would want Cherry to hide but she refuses. She's prepared to stand with him and the Younglings and the Sorcerers to protect what has become her home. Wong, of course scared of her being hurt again after their fight with Goblin Supreme where she nearly died, and Cherry knowing she has the power to protect the people she loves and is prepared to do so.

it's a shortly lived squabble, Cherry winning out, but agreeing to look after the Younglings while in battle. A victory that is awarded with a tender kiss before leaving for the Courtyard.

Through the battle, Cherry mostly shields and protects the Younglings. Wanda does attempt at one point to enter Cherry's mind, but she is under her goddess' protection and Florence does not grant Wanda entry. Wanda is not interested in killing/attacking the Younglings so she quickly refocuses and finds weaker minds in some of the sorcerers.

While Wanda is dream walking, Wong and Cherry are both her prisoners. Sara makes herself known, that the remaining sorcerers have escaped and taking the younglings with them.

(There is clearly an unspoken connection between Wong and Sara. I haven't decided yet, but she in my verse she will either be one of his old flames or even possibly revealed to be Emmy's mother. I am leaning towards the former as her role is so small)

When Wanda begins to torment the other Sorcerers, Wong hesitates, but she finds he quickly breaks when she focuses her powers on Cherry. While Florence may not grant Wanda to Cherry's mind, it doesn't make Cherry immune to Wanda's spells. Wanda is also quick to pick up on the Sorcerer Supreme's weakness and decides to take Cherry with them to Wundagore Mountain as collateral to keep Wong in check.

When Wong is flung off the mountain, it's Cherry who goes berserk, fully tapping into Florence's gifts and for a moment giving Wanda a severe thrashing. It is short lived since Cherry is still very very new to her powers. With Wanda fighting her and the four mountain guardians, Cherry is quickly exhausted and Wanda knocks her out. Wanda considers disposing of her, but has a moment of pity. Wanda is not a monster and she and Cherry share a history together. Wanda makes a promise that when she acquires America's powers, she'll put Cherry in a world where no one ever hurts her and her family doesn't die. A universe where Cherry can live happy and fulfilled. She leaves Cherry in a corner, unconscious, and continues her work.

Towards the end of the movie, Cherry is still far too weak and disoriented to be of much help. She creates a few well placed shields to protect Stephen and Wong and America. In the end, Wong and America have to assist her to her feet as they leave back to Kamar Taj.

The end of the movie sees Stephen and Wong talking and Stephen asking Wong if he is happy. Wong's eyes drift to where Cherry is accepting a bandage from Emmy, before she pulls the young girl tight to her in a hug. Wong's answer doesn't change.

We don't see Cherry for the rest of the movie as she stays in Kamar Taj.

A small scene would take place after the movie where Cherry joins Wong in a cemetery in Kamar Taj. There are clearly fresh graves and she stands close to him, slipping her arms around his elbow. A conversation of loss and those he let die and probably expounding on who Sara was and her sacrifice in destroying the Stronghold. Cherry isn't threatened by the memory of Sara. She knew Wong had lovers before her and knew that he'd been faithful to her for a long time despite the two of them not being official for years. She helps him mourn the loss of his friends.

[moustacheshe]

Yandere! Stephen Strange x Reader: 'Taking Care Of You~'

Warnings: kidnapping, drugging, forced medication

"Mrs. (l/n) what are you doing at work?" A male voice asks referring to your cough, your red running nose and your reddened eyes. You sight and look up from your computer. On the other side of the desk stands Dr. Stephen Strange looking at you with a raised eyebrow. "I can't stay at home. Besides it's only a cold. So thank you for asking but I'm fine, Sir." You answer with a raspy voice giving him a forced smile. 'God he just won't leave me alone will he...' Nevertheless he doesn't seem to happy with your answer. "I can't let you work like that. You'll leave right now and go see a doctor." He seems a little bit angry but you don't care. You're a grown up person and can decide for yourself rather you can work or not. Maybe he's not even talking about your wellbeing but that of the patients. "Don't worry I'll stay away from the patients I won't even come into contact with one. I'm here in the office all day lo-" He interrupts you with a gesture of his hand and leans forward resting his hands on your desk. "I'm not talking about the patients. I'm concerned about YOUR wellbeing." His gaze rests upon you making you really uncomfortable. "Listen i-it's very nice of you...that you care about my wellbeing but-" You grip the mouse of your computer tight in your hand when he interrupts you once again. "If you don't listen to me then I'll have to-" Now he gets interrupted by a knock on the door and a nurse entering the room.

"Dr. Strange you have a surgery in a few minutes the others are already looking for you." Stephen looks at the nurse and then back at you. He sights and straightens up. "We're going to talk about this later. Because I'm pretty sure you are not going to follow my...let's call it 'advice' for your sake." You look at the nurse for help but she just looks confused back and forth between the two of you. 'If this keeps going on there will be even more gossip going on...' You think while despairing on the inside. Dr. Strange goes for the door and is about to leave but not before giving you one last strict glance. The door closes. You let out a heavy sight and close your eyes. A little growl rumbles in your throat. 'He's so annoying. Why can't he just leave me alone?'

It all just started when you've got your new job in this hospital. First it only was a polite greeting while passing each other on the hall. Then after a while you've always felt his eyes on you even when he couldn't be there. You may be paranoid but you always feel like there's someone following and watching you. Every time he meets you he would try to start a conversation with you, which would end up with you struggling to find an excuse for ending it. You know he had this really bad accident and he was gone for a long time. You truly felt sorry for him. But he eventually startet working again. It still is a mystery to you how he can operate with his hands but you're not all about questioning it. There were rumors about magic or something like that but you can't imagine him being a wizard...or anything like that.

The rest of your shift went by very slowly and the cold is really getting to you. It's already dark outside and you pack your stuff in the backpack ready to go home until you hear a knock on the door. "Come in!" You say and blow your nose. The door opens and Stephen Strange enters the room. Knowing who it is you don't pay him much attention. Not after he talked to you like he did earlier that day. "I'm already leaving Dr. Strange." You tell him without looking in his direction. "Mrs. (l/n) I don't appreciate the way you're treating me." His voice sounds calm but... "Ooooh YOU're not appreciating the way I treat YOU." You snap at him having enough of his bullshit. 'He's so arrogant! How can anybody like a person like him?' Quietly you let out a few coughs while looking at him waiting for his reaction. Your throat is dry and hurting. "Listen (y/n)... " He sights and pinches the bridge of his nose. "...I'm... I'm sorry, okay." You look at him a little surprised with a raised eyebrow. "I just don't want you to push yourself to far. I see how much you work and you even go to work when you're sick." Now you're just confused. "And your point is...?" You ask him. "I just want you to stay at home tomorrow and get some rest. Please don't force me to-" You interrupt him feeling kinda creeped out by his behavior. "What? You want to force me to stay home? Look I may or may not understand that you worry about me but I'm really tired at the moment and I don't want to discuss this topic any longer. You do you and I do me." You say your voice breaking a few times while talking. Without saying another word you quickly grab your stuff and push past Dr. Strange. "Good night, Sir." With these words you leave the room and the doctor stays behind.

'Why? Why isn't she seeing that I care so much about her... Am I doing something wrong? Why can't she see that there's more than just working in the same hospital...more than just friendship...' He has so many questions that he can't seem to find an answer to. The first moment he saw you he knew there was something about you...something special. He can't get you of his mind even though he always tries to keeps a clear head. The only reason he returned to the hospital after becoming the Sorcerer Supreme is to see you and to be with you. But...it can't go on like this forever. He needs you. You are his. Watching you at home just isn't enough anymore. 'I need to confess my love. ... But what if she says no?' In that case...he has to come up with a plan to 'convince' you.

You close the door to your house behind you and lock it. 'What's gotten into him?' You sight leaning against the door. 'He never acted like this in the past... Well he creeped me out a few times before but he never like...threatened me.' The more you think about it the more nervous you get. You shake your head. 'He always acts like that... He's probably not used to people not listening to him. Maybe he even is a little bit of a sociopath...' All these thoughts are driving you crazy and you feel the cold slowly taking its toll. So you decide it would be a good idea to take a hot bath and then go to bed. No sooner thought than done. You just throw everything you brought back from work into your bedroom and make your way to the bath. The steaming hot water feels like heaven and you feel your airways slowly relieving.

After a long relaxing bath your body is aching for sleep. Exhausted you lay down in your bed and pull up the blanket over your shivering body. You put on some warm clothes after your bath but you're still cold and you shake like a leaf. The cold really distresses you and you have trouble falling asleep. But after what seems like hours of tossing and turning in bed you eventually fall asleep. As you doze of into sleep you didn't notice the presence of a person standing next to your resting form.

"Isn't she beautiful?" The dark figure whispers. His cloak slightly touches his cheek in order to tell him something. "Yes yes I know just a little more time. She'll soon be ours." He steps closer and kneels beside your bed. His hand wanders to your cheek were his fingers slightly travel over your skin. He feels the heat coming from your body. Carefully he reaches for your forehead. "She has a fever..." He sighs and shakes his head. "I'll have to think about a plan for tomorrow. I can no longer wait and see." He whispers his cloak waving in excitement.

You wake up to your alarm clock going of. If you haven't felt like shit the day before now you do. You feel like you haven't slept at all. Getting up from your bed your body is aching and you feel kinda dizzy. 'At least I'm not cold anymore...' You think to yourself looking in your closet for something to put on today. After finding something warm to put on you get yourself ready for work. As you were eating your breakfast your phone rings and you pick it up looking at the screen. Your boss is calling you. You gulp. "Hello?" You answer the call. >Oh good morning Mrs. (l/n). I hoped you would answer my call before making your way to work.< The voice of your boss sounds through the phone. "How may I help you, Sir?" You ask having no clue at all. >Well first of Mrs. (l/n) I'm sorry for your loss. I didn't know how much stress you go through at the moment. And that's why I'll give you a few days off.< He sounds worried which confuses you even more. 'What loss is he talking about?' "Pardon me Sir but I don't quite understand." >Dr. Strange told me everything. I had no idea of how your situation at the moment is. Don't tell me otherwise I know it's hard to lose a family member and denial is the first option to come to your mind.< 'That asshole Strange...' "Listen Sir I don't-" >Oh I'm sorry Mrs. (l/n) I have to go. Get some time to work on your grief and your problems. Have a nice day.< "BUT I-" It was to late he'd already hung up. You sit there on your table slowly letting your phone sink starring in disbelief. 'He's really done it...' Letting out a loud sigh you lean back in your chair and repeat the whole conversation in your head. Suddenly you yell out in frustration and pound your fists on the table making the silverware clink. "Why?! Why can't he just mind his own business?!" You growl to yourself. You massage your temples and cough a few times. Now you're getting a headache and you feel even worse than before. Suddenly your doorbell rings. You get up from your chair with a loud sight and make your way to the door.

As you open it and see who's standing in front of it you feel anger and annoyance boiling up in you. "How dare you?!" You spit. The person in front of you is non other than Dr. Stephen Strange. He stares at you with an unreadable expression but you couldn't care less. "Stop interfering in my life! What's wrong with you?! Don't you have your own business to mind?! Just leave me the hell alone! Stop staring at me and SAY SOMETHING!" Your outburst gets Dr. Strange back into reality and focused on you. "Listen (y/n) I'm just doing this because you clearly don't care for yourself." He says in a calm voice. "I don't see how this is your business! Just stop already! Leave me alone!" You beg desperately trying to get him to understand. "(Y/n) why don't you understand that I care a lot about you. I just want to protect you." He explains putting his hands up in a calming manner. You take a step back in your house ready to close the door if he trys something. His behavior is really creeping you out and the worst thing is that you can't seem to understand him. "I-I...Dr. Strange we are colleagues and...I really want to leave it at that. I mean you still have Christine. She cares a lot about you a-and she is the same age as you and I thought you two were-" You try to make it clear that you have no interest in him...because you're not blind and you get the hints he's giving you. 'But maybe he's just trying to be nice...?' "No!" His sharp tone makes you flinch slightly and you are about to slam the door in his face. "I don't care about Christine! I only care about you and I love you (y/n) don't you understand?! I want you to be with me! I need to protect you it's dangerous out there!" Your heart is racing and you feel like screaming right now. "Okay that's enough. Please leave now Dr. Strange!" You try your hardest to sound tough and determined but your voice comes out shaking. He looks at you raising his eyebrows realising what he's just said. "Oh no (y/n) I didn't mean to scare you. I'm sorry. I'm-"

*BOOM*

You slam the door in his face before he can come anywhere near you. "Please (y/n) don't lock me out." The voice of the doctor comes muffled from the other side of the door. "GO AWAY! I ALREADY TOLD YOU I'M NOT-" Suddenly you hear a noise coming from behind you. You spin around in panic and look around behind you. But you can't seem to see anything suspicious. 'Okay (y/n) get it together! I can't even call the police on him otherwise I'm probably going to lose my job...' You feel really bad and weakened because of the cold and the stress. Leaning against the door you try not to cry. "(Y/n) I can feel that you're not well. Let me take care of you. Don't force me to-" "SHUT- up!" You scream your voice breaking in the end. Turning to face the door again you shake out of anger and fear. "If you don't leave immediately I'm going to call the-" Suddenly something grabs you from behind. It feels like some sort of fabric is wrapping itself tightly around you. You try to scream but the same fabric covers your mouth. As it also forces your legs together you are about to fall but it somehow keeps you standing. You struggle against it but it only keeps getting tighter until you can't move anymore. The cold is not helping you  either because of your weakened state you can't keep up the fight for long. You pant heavily and give in to whatever is holding you. The fabric around you losens a little bit as you begin to shake out of fear and exhaustion. You look to your door as suddenly some sort of portal appears in front of you. Out of the portal steps Stephen Strange who was behind your door just a moment ago. Your eyes widen and you want to back up but the fabric won't let you. "I'm sorry I don't wanted to do that but you left me with no choice." He steps towards you until he's only a few centimeters away from you. You wimper in response and fight the tears from coming out. Dr. Strange notices your frightened state and wrapps his arms around you. He presses your shaking form against him and trys to calm you down. "Shhh it's okay. I'll take good care of you. You'll never have to stress yourself with work again. It's not good for you." You weakly start to struggle again and scream against his chest until your throat hurts even more. He just tightens his hold on you and says nothing because he knows you'll get exhausted eventually. As you finally give up and stay still in his arms you start to cry and muffle pleas in the fabric covering your mouth. "You can let go of her now." Dr. Strange says and the thing holding you releases you. It flys behind the doctor and lays itself around his shoulders. "Please let me go I promise I won't tell anyone and we'll just forget about it... You just have to let me-" You plea with what's left of your voice and try to free yourself again with nothing more than a light push. "Hush I don't want to hear this nonsense anymore (y/n). I know it will be hard for you to adjust to your new life believe me I know it to well. But you'll be safe with me in the Sanctum Santorum." You shake your head and still try to escape his grasp. "My family and friends will search for me and they are going to safe me-" You have to pause and start coughing. This was to much for your voice. "That's enough (y/n) you need to rest now!" Stephen pulls something out of his pocket. "What *cough* are you-" You panic but the next moment you feel something piercing your neck. The liquid entering your system imitately makes you feel dizzy. You still try to struggle against him but you can already feel yourself slipping of into sleep. As your consciousness slowly slips away Stephen takes over the weight of your body. "There we go sweetheart that's much better isn't it?" He whisper as your struggles fade and you finally give up the fight against sleep.

You slowly begin to wake up. It's warm and soft around you. The smell of freshly washed bedding fills your nose. You move slowly and open up your eyes a little. Carefully you move your sore limbs and sit up slightly. You are still a bit dizzy and your vision is slightly blurry. As you look around the unfamiliar room you are in it hits you like a lightning bolt kicking you out of your dazed state. He kidnapped you. You feel panic rising up in you and you throw of the bedsheet. But the moment you want to leave the bed you fall face first on the ground. Something was holding your leg and as you turn to look what it is your face goes pale. A chain was attached from the bed to your ankle. "NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!" You shout panicking even more and pulling on the chain. Suddenly you stop as you hear someone opening the door to the room. You quickly look for something to defend yourself with and grab the beside lamp from the nightstand. Stephen enters the room holding a tray with a bowl, cutlery, a glass of water (at least you think it is water) and some bottles which look like they're containing medicine. He also wears rather strange clothes and the oh so familiar cape. The moment he looks at you and sees what you are holding his expression changes in disappointment. "I hope you slept well, sweetheart. Although I really thought you would change your attitude after your nap." He stets the tray aside on a large dresser and turns to face you. You slowly stand up holding the lamp in front of you. The chain on your ankle is forcing you to only fully stand on one leg. "You drugged and kidnapped me and you really think I would 'change my mind'? You are a sick psychopath! You are a mon-" "I AM NOT- a monster! (Y/n) I did this because I love you and I want to protect you. You'll come to understand it sooner or later. Now please put down the lamp you're going to hurt yourself." You don't even think about putting it down on the contrary your grip around the lamp tightens and your hands begin to shake. Stephen sighs and his cape detaches itself from his shoulders and darts towards you. You whimper and try to hit it with the lamp to keep it away from you. But the red fabric is to fast for you and dodges your every swing. It wraps around the lamp and pulls it out of your hand which sends you falling on your butt. "NO!" You yell frustrated. The cape now again wraps around you but not without you biting, pulling and kicking it. "STOP!" You can't keep up the fight for too long and again end up wrapped in a tight embrace. The cape lifts you up and lays you back down in the bed. "Please Stephen...please let me back home. I'm begging you please..." You begin to sob and squirm. Stephen just ignores your pleas and takes the tray he brought in before to the nightstand beside your bed. He sits down on the bed with an unreadable expression.

Stephen takes the bowl with the food he prepared for you while the cape forces you in an upright position. "Stephen please..." Your whole body shakes and tears stream down your cheeks. The doctor looks at you and you could see he was feeling guilty for just a brief moment. "You need to eat now (y/n) and then you're going to take some medicine." His monoton voice scares you. "Please you don't have to do this! Just...Just let us talk about this. I really-" "Quiet!" Immediately you go silent biting your buttom lip. "If you don't behave, I'm going to put you somewhere you really don't want to be." This thread sends a cold shiver down your spine and makes you wonder what he is capable of. "W-What are you?" You dare to ask which softens his expression. "Well I'm nothing to be afraid of as long as you are good." He reaches out for your face and puts his hand on your cheek making you flinch. "I'm not going to tell you, yet. It's already way to much for your little head to take in right now." His thumb strokes your cheek in order to calm you down. You don't dare to speak nor to move. He then takes his hand away to pick up the spoon and feed you the dish he has prepared. It looks like some kind of porridge. "Now you must be hungry. You need to eat something." He scoops up some of the food and directs it to your mouth. You hesitate to open up your mouth. "(Y/n)...please don't make me force feed you." Against anything your brain screams at you, you slowly open your mouth and let Stephen put the food in it. "Good girl." He praises you. You slowly swallow the warm and almost tasteless porridge. It's at least a little bit sweet. Dr. Strange feeds you the rest of the bowl leaving your insides feel warm from the food. He gives you a warm smile. "See it wasn't that bad now was it?" Besides feeling a little bit better after eating you still want to strangle him. He then opens up the medication. "I'm not going to take the medicine from you." You say cold, but feeling scared on the inside. He stops for a moment making you panic you even said something. "Well if that's so I'll need to do it another way." You want to back away but the fabric still holding you won't let you. "I actually hoped you would say that." A dark smile you've never seen before forms on his face. He takes a pill out of the jar and puts it into his mouth. 'He's not going to...' You start to struggle again seeing him taking a mouthful of the water. Stephen then takes your head in his hands forcefully opening your mouth with his fingers. You shake your head and start to cry again. He connects his mouth with yours and infuses the water and the pill into your mouth. For a short moment he stays like this holding your head still. As he pulls away from your shaking form he puts his hand over your mouth for you to not spit it out again. "Shhhh. Just swallow it. You're going to be okay I promise." You whimper trying to spit everything out but only a little bit of water runs down your chin. Finally you decide to swallow the warm water containing the pill. Stephen smiles as he sees you swallow the medication. He takes his hand away and studies your red face. Admittedly he really wants to feel and taste you. As a man who actually is not dirty minded he really needs to hold back when it comes to you. "You need to rest now. The medication will soon have an effect. It'll make you feel a little bit sleepy but the cold should go away very soon." He lays you back down and his cloak lets go of you positioning itself back around Stephens shoulders. You don't dare to move as he places the blanket over you stroking your hair in an effort to calm you. He just sits beside you on the bed admiring you while stroking your hair and face.

After some time you again feel the urge to sleep. 'Probably the medication...' You thought to yourself while your vision begins to blurr. Stephen notices and smiles softly while still stroking your hair. "Don't worry, I'll take good care of you." He whispers as you slowly drift of into sleep again.