Tony stared boredly around the charity dinner. This one was to raise money to pay for the medical expenses of impoverished children, which Tony whole heartedly supported, but it was just another get together for rich people to posture themselves and show off. Tony sighed again, sweeping his eyes across the room again, but this time, someone caught his eye.
Dr. Stephen Strange, neurosurgeon extraordinaire. Tony had talked with the man before, not since Afghanistan, but their conversations were always intellectually stimulating in the least. So, Tony set his champagne flute down and walked up to him. “Dr. Strange, long time no see!” Stephen turned to look at him, a small bit of surprise flashing through his eyes for a brief second, before he put on his own media smile. “Dr. Stark, how are you?”
“Eh, still got some pain from the expo, but you know how it is.” Stephan frowned at him, but then shook his head. “I don’t know how you do it Stark, being a superhero on top of running a company, especially after what happened in Afghanistan.” Tony knew what Stephen was doing. He wanted to ask Tony to look at his arc reactor, but knew that it couldn’t happen in public. Tony knew he needed a doctor who knew what he was doing and that could keep secrets. Stephen would probably the best choice, so Tony smiled and nodded. “I’d be willing to tell you about how I do it after this If you’d like?” Stephen looked at him curiously, then nodded his head before being pulled away.
Little did they know that that was the start of something amazing.
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Stephen frowned at Tony. After that night at the charity dinner, Stephan had gotten a look at the Arcreator and had immediately insisted that he be Tony primary doctor and surgeon. Tony had quickly agreed, grateful that it hadn’t taken much convincing. Over the past few months, Stephan had dragged Tony into getting MRIs and CTs, and they had a plan to finally get all of the shrapnel out of him, but then the Avengers happened, and Loki invaded.
So here they were now, with Stephan looking him over to make sure nothing life threatening had happened. He was done after a few moments, then sighed and rested his head on Tony’s shoulder. They had grown close, closer than Tony had thought possible. Tony almost thought they could be more than friends, but he pushed those thought s aside, nor wanting to ruin what they had.
“Tony, don’t you ever do something stupid like that again. I thought…” Stephen let out a shaky sigh, the knuckles on his hands turning white where he gripped the table underneath him. “I thought I had lost you.” His voice was so small and vulnerable that it made Tony feel bad. “I’m sorry, I can’t promise I won’t do it again, but I can promise ill try to find better ways.” Stephen chuckled, the deep rumbling in his chest somewhat comforting. “That’s probably going to be the best that I’m going to get from you.”
Tony was about to reply, but then there were warm lips pressed against his. He took a few moments, but Tony kissed back fervently. Stephen pulled back with a sigh, looking into tony’s eyes as if to memorize them. “I love you, Anthony Edward Stark, so much. Promise me you’ll be careful.” Tony smiled, nodding his head. “I promise Stephen, I love you too.”
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They had been dating for six months, and then Stephen had gotten into that accident. It broke tony’s heart to watch as who he now saw as the love of his life lost his means of work. He stayed by Stephen every step of the way, even seeing him off to flights. Tony got one last text before Stephen disappeared.
I think I’ve found a solution, but I can’t contact anyone from the outside world. I promise I’ll be back, so please wait for me, my love.
Tony found he had no other choice but to wait.
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Steve didn’t like Tony at first, finding him arrogant and snobbish, but the more time he spent with the man, the more he had taken a liking to him. Tony was loyal, willing to sacrifice himself, and ready to fulfill all of his wants and needs. Steve knew he was falling for Tony, but there was one problem. Stephen.
Steve didn’t like Stephen at all. He was Tony’s boyfriend, and he was protective. He didn’t let Steve even get close if he could help it. When Stephen wasn’t there, Steve had tried to hit on Tony, convince him the he would be a much better boyfriend than Stephen, but that had only served to anger Tony, accusing Steve of having no respect for him. Steve had tried to deny it, but then Natasha got int he way and had told Steve to cram.
That was another issue. Steve had thought the he and Natasha had become close, but she and Clint were taking Tony’s side more often than not and had started acting as body guards. Whenever Stephen wasn’t there, Clint was talking the genius’s ear off with Natasha near by, keeping an eye on everything and making sure no one harmed her two best friends.
All that, however, led to today. Natasha and Clint were on a mission, and Stephen hadn’t been around for months, so Steve saw his opportunity. He waited until Tony was in the kitchen getting his coffee, and then walked up to him. “Hey Tony, could I talk to you for a moment.” He saw Tony’s shoulders tense, but assumed it was just because he had startled the man. Tony turned around to face him, his eyes sharp and cold. “What do you want Steve?”
“I just noticed that Stephen wasn’t around anymore, and I thought that maybe…” tony’s eye filled with fury, and Steve knew he had messed up. “My boyfriend isn’t around right now because he has gone somewhere that might be able to fix his hands. I will not betray him like that while he is injured and trying to get better, and the fact that you think I would even think about that shows just how little you actually knew me and or care about me.” Tony started to walk away, but Steve reached out and caught his wrist, which caused him to cry out in pain.
“If you would just listen to me Tony!” Steve tried to speak over Tony’s pleaded to let him go, claiming that Steve was hurting him. When Steve refused to, he felt a fist connect with his jaw. He fell to the ground, recognizing that power, and a look over his shoulder to see blonde hair proved his suspicion. Thor had come for a visit.
Thor was glaring at him, but he turned to Tony to make sure he was ok. Once Thor was sure, he sent Tony away. Steve was given a harsh lecture that night, only made worse once Natasha and Clint got back.
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Bucky was alive. That was all Steve could think about even as he rammed his shield into Tony’s chest again and again, hearing the crunch of metal. The image barely even fazed him as he left with T’Challa, not even looking back at the blood stained shield.
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It was Stephen who had found him, barely even fifteen minuets later. Seeing his boyfriend, healthier than he had looked in months and now a certified wizard, caused Tony to start sobbing. “Oh Tony…” Was all Stephen could say as he pick Tony up and opened a portal to bring them home. Once Tony was out of the ruined suit, he clung to Stephen like alive line, only letting go when he had to go into surgery.
When Tony woke up from the surgery, Stephen was right there, reading a book. Tony smiled and couldn’t help as tears started falling. It was when he sniffled that finally brought Stephen’s attention to him. He smiled at Tony, moving a gloved hand to cup his cheek. “Hey Tony, how are you feeling?” Tony chuckled, them immediately regretted it as he felt sharp pains echo through his rib cage. “Like crap. What’s the final verdict?” Stephen sighed. “We’re going to have to replace most of your rib cage and your sternum Tony. FRIDAY started fabricating some Starkanium three days ago, but its going to take another seven before we have enough, and then its going to be another extensive surgery.” Stephen seemed devastated and shook his head. “I should have been there for you.”
“Stephen, look at me. This isn’t your fault, and if you’re that hung up over it, you can just consider this as repaying me for all the time I spent taking care of you after your accident.” Tony squeezed Stephen’s hand in reassurance as Stephen smiled at him. With another shake of his head. Stephen moved to the ground, on one knee. “I know this isn’t the best time for this, but I’ve been wanting to do this since before my accident.” Stephen reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box. He opened it to show a small, delicate ring. It was a thin, gold band with an elegant ruby perched on top.
“Tony, will you marry me?” It took a few moments for Tony’s brain to catch up, but once it did, he nodded his head. “Yes Stephen, a thousand times yes.” Stephen smiled, then gently placed the ring on Tony’s finger. It was then that the door flew open, and a familiar voiced cried out. “Mr. Stark!” Tony sighed, then looked over at the kid he never should have dragged into this, but could never regret bringing into his life. “Hey Underoos.”
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Tony and Stephen had a small, quiet ceremony, with only the closest of family and friends. Of course, the public quickly figured out that they were married, but thankfully it wasn’t an overly talked about event, with just a few congratulations here and there. After that was when the real work began. Despite what everyone thought, Natasha and Clint hadn’t abandoned Tony. They were keeping an eye on Steve for him, so he didn’t have to worry about it.
The next order of business was fixing the accords and then building up teams of superheroes. Just because the avengers hadn’t worked out, it didn’t mean that other teams couldn’t or weren’t. The compound had some major upgrades to allow various mutants, meta humans, superhumans, and anyone else that was a superhero could live, train, socialize, and rest. It was were child superheroes came to learn to control their powers and trained with older superheroes to gain insight.
Tony would say it was his magnum opus, one that he had proudly built alongside his husband and surrogate sons. He was so happy with everything, in fact, that he nearly forgot that Steve and Wanda were supposed to be here today. Of course, Natasha and Clint and Sam were included in that too, but they didn’t hate him. He was happy they were coming. When he did see Steve though, he cooled his expression, then pretended to answer a phone call, clearly showing off his wedding ring. He only hung up once he knew Steve had seen it, and hoped it would act as a deterrent. This was only strengthened when Peter came and pulled him away, saying he needed help with some science project he was working on. Stephen joined them, wrapping an arm around Tony’s waist. It seemed to work, as neither Steve nor Wanda dared approach him.
When Thanos did come, they were ready, and it was a relatively quick affair with all of the support they had behind them. Steve was hardly seen during the battle, having been ignored by most of superhero society.
Tony was overjoyed and only partially exhausted. He was ready to rest with his family, taking a year long vacation with Stephen, pulling Peter and Harley along with the, every couple of weeks.