At first, he didn´t know what had woken him. Their bedroom was dark, so it wasn´t actually time to wake up and start the day. It didn´t seem like there was something wrong with his body. He wasn´t thirsty and didn´t need to go to the toilet. So why was he awake?
Slowly he turned towards his boyfriend. The other man lay next to him, just like they had fallen asleep, but something seemed off. Tony couldn´t really put his finger on just jet, but he knew, something was wrong.
And then it hit him, like a punch in the face. Stephen lay there completely still.
Well, with any other person, that wouldn´t be a reason for worry, but Stephen? The other man never, NEVER lay still. Not in his sleep, not while he was resting, and not even while unconcise. His hands always trembled slightly. He was always turning and normally, he mumbled in his sleep.
Something was seriously wrong!
> Every inch of his body was hurting. Not just his muscles, no, every part of him.
> Stephen knew, that he no longer had a hole rip in his body. Every organ of his was bruised at this point. But the worst was the pain, where his arms and legs were supposed to be. If the sorcerer would have been able to scream, he would have done just that. But Thanos had cut his vocal cords a long time ago. Had gotten tired of his screams and pleas. He even had gotten tired of the torture and commanded Ebony maw to take over for him. And said man, seemed to enjoy the opportunity.
> Stephen couldn´t do anything but levitate there as his blood was dripping down and hope for a quick death. Not that Thanos would let him die, as long as he didn´t have the stone, but a man could hope.
> Not for the first time, the sorcerer asked himself if it was worth it. 13 years, 5 months, 2 weeks, and 4 days. That´s how long he was able to hide from Thanos. How long he had switched dimensions. Planets.
> And for what?
> It had been a time of agony. A time of loneliness. A time of anxiety.
> And all that for nothing. All that, just so Thanos had gotten his hands on him anyway.
> But at least he had gotten Thanos away from Earth. Anyone there was safe. Or as safe, as they could be. And Tony…
> Had he moved on yet? Was he still there? Did he miss their time together?
> Stephen didn´t know. Since he had made the decision to get Thanos away from anyone he loved, away from Earth, Stephen hadn´t had contact with anyone there. It would have been too dangerous.
> “Have you finally decided to give us the Timestone?”, Ebony maw asked not for the first time.
> Stephen steeled his mind. They would never get the stone. Not even if they tortured him for eternity. The time stone was safe. Safe, where Thanos would never get him. Not even, if Stephen would die.
“Stephen!”
> That was new! Neither Thanos nor Ebony man had ever used his given name. Sorcerer. Wizard. Even Doctor. But never the name his parents had chosen for him. Not once.
“Stephen please!”
> What were they pleading for? That wasn´t really his choice of tone.
“Come back to me.”
> But he was already here, wasn´t he? He was right here! Levitating in the air. Immobilized by magic. Without his cloak. Without the ability to do magic. Without even the slightest chance to escape or survive. And they knew it. Because that´s where they wanted him.
> Suddenly there was a hand on his shoulder. Not the cold hand of Ebony man. Or the crashing one of Thanos. No. This hand was warm. Loving. Caring. It reminded him of a time in his life when he had felt loved.
> Perfect. Now his brain was shutting down too. Mixing past and present. Memories and reality.
“Come on babe. Don’t do this to me!”
> Babe? Tony? What was going on?
“Yeah, babe. It´s me. Come back to me!”
> But Tony should long be over him. It was too long. He should have continued with his life. Hadn´t he?
“Your scaring me babe. I would never get over you. You hear me? I will be here for you however long it takes.”
> Stephen inhaled sharply. And for the first time, it felt like he was actually breathing.
Greedily he inhaled the oxygen. Filled his lungs up to the brim and exhaled again.
“Yeah, that's it. Just keep breathing. Everything will be fine.”
Stephen turned towards the voice. Slowly his eyes adjusted to the light. His eyes began to focus and the world around him moved into focus.
“Tony?”, he asked voice raspy and scratchy.
“Yeah, Stephen. It's me. You back with me?”
Stephen only nodded. He felt too weak, too exhausted to talk more. As if Tony sensed his state of him, he moved closer and pulled him into a hug.
And hug, that didn´t hurt, because his rips weren´t broken. Because his organs weren´t bruised. He could even feel his hands spasm. So his arms were still, where they belonged.
“It´s okay. It was just a nightmare. Your safe.”
But Stephen knew better. It hadn’t been just a nightmare. No. It had been a memory. One of the 14,000,605 futures he had seen. No. Not only seen. He had lived them. All those lives. All those possibilities.
“No”
“No?”, Tony asked.
“It wasn´t just a nightmare.”, Stephen answered. It exhausted him only more, but he knew, if he didn´t talk with Tony about it now, he never would.
“What do you mean?”, Tony asked, tightening his hug.
“I didn´t just see them on Titan. I felt them. Lived them. It felt so real. I felt how Thanos tortured me. How the earth imploded. The grieve over your death. Over Peters's death. I felt everything…”, he trailed off. It was too hard to talk about. Silent tears started rolling down his face.
For the first time in… ever, Tony didn´t know what to say. Was there even something he could have said? Where there words to make it better? More bearable?
He couldn´t even start to coherent what Stephen was saying. No human mind was made to live all those lice. Feel all those things. No human mind would do so and come out of it unharmed.
Tony desperately wanted to help his boyfriend, but he didn´t know how. How could he make it better? How could he help?
In his arms he could feel Stephen drifting off to sleep once more. The exhaustion taking over once more.
Tony chose to cuddle closer to his lover. To hold him as close as he could and hope it was enough to keep the nightmares at bay. It had to be enough. Enough for now. Everything else they would figure out in the morning.