"Didn't? Well good, because that would be outlandish and fantastic,” Tony took a deep breath and continued, “ I'm just not the hero type, clearly. With this laundry list of character defects, all the mistakes I've made, largely public."
Rhodey whispered so that only Tony could hear, "Just stick to the cards, man."
Tony took the card from Rhodey, unfolded it to check the content inside and said, "Yeah, okay. Yeah. The truth is-,” giving a pause for some dramatic effect, he continued, “ I am Iron Man."
However, there was a certain someone, somewhere who was watching him. Once the words, ' I am Iron Man' escaped his mouth, that certain someone smiled, a mysterious smile and one thought running inside his mind,
' Interesting.'
Stephen had been watching Tony from that day. The surgeon who was only interested in doing surgery on others and his hands, had finally found someone interesting.
When he finally thought it was time for him to meet Tony face to face, he arranged a "meeting" for both of them.
---
Tony was with Pepper when suddenly in front of someone came out of a portal.
"Hi, I am Doctor Stephen Strange.” Stephen introduced himself. “I need you."
He said pointing towards Tony. The "billionaire" Tony, who was now the "confused" Tony also pointed to himself and then looked at Pepper who was already looking at him. He then returned his gaze to Stephen.
Fed up with the constant staring from both of them, Stephen extended his left hand for Tony to take. Tony just sighed and removed his intertwined fingers with Pepper and took hold of the handsome man in front, who goes by the name, Stephen with his own right hand.
Once in Stephen's hands, he pulled Tony towards himself, such that Tony was now in the taller man's arms. He then wrapped a protecting hand around Tony. Tony was already tired from Pepper's constant nagging and was thinking of ways to escape from that workaholic of a secretary of his when this handsome man came to save him.
A satisfied Stephen, walked away with Tony through the portal, leaving a confused Pepper behind. If his cloak could speak, they would have been saying, "Ha, look who is ours now."
The other side of the portal took them to Tony's room. Tony was still under Stephen's protective arms, Stephen did not want to remove his hand, enjoying the warmth but forced him to remove. Tony looked around and once he realised it was his room, he asked, "What are we doing in my room?"
Stephen replied to his question by saying, "You might not want to wear this and go on a date with me."
Tony was more confused than surprised but quickly regained his calm as he said, "What? Wait, you know what, never mind."
---
"And that was how I met your father."
Tony concluded his story and kissed his 8 year old son, Harley's forehead.
Harley, "What happened during the date, tell me about it, please papa?"
Tony, "Some other time, Harls, it's already past bedtime. Your dad will be unhappy and scold us, now do you want scolding just before you sleep, my boy?"
Tony laughed a little at his boy's whine.
Harley, "Fine, but you will tell me the story tomorrow night. Deal?"
Tony, "Deal."
Tony then helped Harley to comfortably lie down on his bed, brought the blankets up to his chest, kissed his forehead and muttered a small goodnight that his son happily returned. Tony waited till his son fell asleep before getting up from the bed and switching off the table lamp beside Harley's bed.
"Why do I always have to be the scolding dad?"
Stephen asked Tony once the latter had shut the door to Harley's bedroom. Tony smiled at him before answering.
"Because I am the cool papa."
Stephen, "You little shit, but you are mine."
Tony, "Of course I am yours, Mr. Possessive hubby."
Stephen, "Damn right."
However, before Stephen could say anything else, Tony interrupted him.
"Now, now, Mr. Stark-Strange, it's sleeping time. Neither will I allow you to take away my beauty sleep nor my favourite cuddles. So get your ass on our bed."
Stephen, "Yes sir."
---
Lets just say, that night they did not just end up with cuddles only and the next day, Tony was limping around while Pepper and Rhodey were taking their sweet time in teasing him.