Dark Angel
You wake up, head lying on something firm and especially warm. Soft snoring reaches your ears, and you subconsciously snuggle into the mysterious object more. A hand hugs your naked form from the back, pulling you even closer, and you feel goosebumps spread all over your skin. The weather wasn't cold, on the contrary, it was too warm for your liking. And the sheets you were covered in, up till your chest, did nothing to cool you down.
You open one eye, peeking around the place. Huge room, so much extra space, that a shop could be opened here. Old wooden furniture, shelves full of books, big mirror near the wardrobe and extra neat and tidy desk near the bed. Clothes scattered near the bed and some of them still on the covers. You notice your panties and blush. Oh, what a night.
Stephen stirs near you, and you finally get off him, creating some space for him to stretch. However, the same hand that was just holding you, pulls you back to his chest. He bends down his head a bit and places a soft kiss on your forehead.
"How long have you been awake?" he asks, voice groggy from all the sleep, but so, so sexy at the same time. You shoo the dirty thoughts away and look up at him. The man you could spend two eternities with.
"Like 2 minutes." you say, your voice hoarse too.
"Oh, thank God, didn't hear me snoring" he laughs.
"Actually, I did. It was terrible. Like listening to a tractor." you tease, hiding your face in his chest, so that he wouldn't see your cheeky grin.
"Oh, really? Well, you're no better than me, snoring like two tractors."
"Shut up" you laugh. Moments later, you sit up and get out of bed, putting on Stephen's bathrobe.
"Already running away?" he smirks, watching how his bathrobe hugs your form.
"Yeah, I have someone else waiting for me."
"Send my regards to that poor man." he says, sitting up in the bed.
"Who said that it's a man?" you pretend to be annoyed and huff, reaching the bathroom door.
"Okay, okay, don't make them wait" he puts up his hands in defeat.
Freshened up a bit, you return to the main room, still wrapped up in Stephen's bathrobe like a burrito.
"How was your secret date?" he asks, computer in his hands already. As always, he's reading the news.
"Eh, could've been better." you fake sigh, returning to the bed and kissing his cheek. "You, mister, need to shave. It's prickly already."
"Hey, I shaved yesterday" a hurt look on his face, he turns to look at you.
"Yeah, and you ALREADY need to shave again."
"Fine, fine, whatever you say, honey."
You lay back on his chest, looking up at the computer screen. "Any good news?"
"There's a party at Stark's. Tony and Pepper are celebrating their anniversary, I think." he answers, slowly soothing your hair.
"You're going?" you ask, already knowing the answer. Sorcerer Supreme always had to make an appearance in big events.
"We're going." he says calmly, but the simple sentence makes you sit up and look at him in shock.
"We?"
"Yes. What? You don't want to go?"
"We. As in us together? As coworkers?"
"We - as in pair. You're my right hand, y/n. It's important for you to come with me."
"Mordo is your right hand." you say, raising your eyebrows.
"Well, I'm not gonna slow dance with Mordo, am I?"
"So, you're asking me out? To go with you. To a party." he's patiently nodding after your every stop. "As coworkers?"
"No, y/n, as a pair." he rubs your chin lovingly. "I think it's about time to tell the world about an incredible woman who stole my heart."
You're too stunned to speak. Stephen Strange, asking you out? And wanting you to be his pair at Stark's party? A party full of important people? That's not how you imagined your Thursday to begin.
"Y/n?"
"I don't have a suitable dress, Stephen." you finally smile.
"That's not a problem, you look good in anything. But most importantly, you look good in my bathrobe." He winks, kissing you slowly.
The days until Saturday flew faster than you wanted and now, 3 pm, you were standing in front of the mirror in your room. Long black dress, with lace and some glitter 'till your waist, dark black material freely flowing to your heels. Your dress - v-neck, is sure to attract many eyes, but the ones of Stephen Strange you wanted to be attracted the most.
Fixing your hair one last time, you leave your room and go in the direction of the Master's chamber. Two knocks after, Stephen opens the door, freezing in the spot for a moment but quickly letting you inside. He's almost dressed too - white shirt, jacket thrown on the bed, he was about to put on his tie before you came.
"Wow, you look stunning." he breathes out, not taking eyes off you.
"Why, thanks. You're not so bad yourself." you smile, taking his tie in your hands, ready to tie it, but then realizing that you've never in your life tied a tie. Hands now awkwardly placed on his chest, you look in a mirror beside you. Stephen - still half of a head taller than you, the white streak in his black, a bit gelled hair, makes him even more attractive. If that was even possible.
Your heels, however, did nothing to make you taller. Fucking scam.
"You've never tied a tie before, right?" he asks after a moment of silence.
"You got me." you say and step back a bit, watching how he quickly and perfectly ties it with magic. "Show-off" you huff, turning on your heel and sitting on his reading armchair. That thing was really very comfortable. If you were to steal anything from the Sanctum, the armchair would be THE thing.
"So, we're gonna take a cab or do it our style?" he asks, putting on the jacket and putting Cloak of Levitation, transformed into a little blue handkerchief, in the pocket.
"Well, it's almost an hour drive 'till Stark's house, but the roads are busy at this time of the day, so, it would take about an hour and a half" you begin, lazily moving your crossed legs, sitting in definitely not a very feminine way, but who gives a crap??
"And with magic we can get there in a minute" Strange finishes, coming to stand behind you and gently touching your shoulders.
"The party starts at?"
"Four."
"A bit early, even for Stark."
"Well, Tony said something along the lines of 'I'm an old man now, Strange, parties are behind me already'". Stephen copies Tony quite deep voice. You melt into his touch, the hands he once hated, now were almost lulling you to sleep.
"Yeah" you laugh, "old man who still parties like he's 16."
"You've never been to his party before. Have you?" Interested in your statement a bit, Strange asks, in a sort of jealous manner.
"Of course not, but it's fair to say that the whole New York knows about his parties. Words spread fast."
He hums in thought, and then you feel his warm touch leave your bare shoulders, a cold feeling taking over its place.
"So, we're going our way?" he asks, putting on his sling ring.
"Oh, yeah." you say, standing up and fixing your dress. A portal is opened, and you see a huge house, no, no, not a house, a huge mansion before your eyes, big gates surrounding the place, a small sort of parking lot is already full of fancy shiny cars. Ugh, rich people. You roll your eyes and after Stephen come out of the portal. The portal closes with a satisfying sound and a soft breeze touches your arms. Involuntarily, you shudder.
Stephen looks around and offers you an arm, which you gladly take. Together you walk through the entrance and inside you see about 50 people already hanging out and chatting. Soon, you notice the main people of the evening - Tony and Pepper, all fancy and fashionable, and expensive (in a good way), and so.... in love. Your heart swells for the couple - that's how you want to live your life - happy and never tired of your other half. You steal a glance at Strange, he's also looking at Starks, lost in thought. You only hope that he's thinking the same thing as you.
Tony notices Strange and his mysterious partner, and leaves behind the person who's been talking to him about some new facilities that should be built near the city with Pepper. In a blink, Stark is standing before the two of you, champagne glass in hand, weird sunglasses hanging out of the pocket of his jacket.
"Strange! What a surprise, never thought you'd make it to my little party. Oh, and who's this dark angel by your side?" Tony quickly spills words as peas on the ground, and you're late to blush at his compliment, before he continues, now talking to you, "You should leave him, there are hundreds of people with a better character than his. And honestly? If I wasn't married, I'd take you on a date right now." he sends you a magazine-cover-worth smile, turning back to wink at Pepper, who's still up there fighting for her life with that pesky bald guy.
"Before you steal my date, I'd like to introduce her", Strange coughs, stopping another flood of words from Tony. "This is y/n, she's my..."
He's silent. You slightly frown, but quickly give your hand to Stark and finish, "his coworker".
Stark eyes you both in a weird way, but then instead of shaking your hand, he places a soft kiss on your knuckle. "Pleasure, my lady. Nice name, although, I think dark angel suits you better." he nods to you and Strange, looking around and then saying "well, gotta run for now, I'll make sure to rock the dance floor with you later, angel."
Tony left you as fast as he got here, and now you and Strange were left standing in an awkward silence.
"Dark angel? Is this even a compliment?" Strange mutters, now fully turning to you. "Coworker?"
"Well, that's the truth, isn't it?" you answer, grabbing a glass of champagne for yourself and another for Strange from the passing by waiter.
"Half of it, yeah, but I came here with you as my date, not my work friend. You are beyond the lines of work in my life, y/." he says, drinking the champagne, almost half of the glass in one time.
"Well, I chickened out a bit, so?" you say, also taking a big gulp from the glass. The champagne tasted like cat's piss. "Ugh, that's so bad."
"What, the drink?" he smells the glass a bit, thinking for a moment, "it's one of the most expensive ones in America."
"Yeah? Then why it tastes like piss?" you put the glass on a random table and start looking for a bar corner. "Gonna go find where they hide margaritas or something, you want some?" you ask, knowing well that it's just a distraction from further conversation about your feelings.
Strange looks a bit confused at you but soon nods, already on his way to meet someone, "bring me a glass of martini if you find it, hun."
More and more people are coming to the party and the room feels crowded soon. Drinking your 5th margarita, you finally order two martinis and go on a quest to find a Strange in the sea of men dressed almost identically. Someone almost runs into you, and you're ready to send a curse towards them before a tall figure emerges out of thin air and takes a glass from your hand. "Thank you, darling." Strange says, looking you up and down - cheeks a bit rosy from the alcohol, but you're standing perfectly, despite almost never walking in high heels.
"Oh, found you" you smile, eyes brighter than ever. "Have a great talk?"
"Yeah, have a great drink?"
"Oh, yeah." you smile, drinking the martini and searching for that waiter boy with drinks again.
"Before you get completely or even partially drunk, care to satisfy this man with a dance?"
"I think the music is not very my type of dancing music" you whisper, stepping close to him. His strong cologne fills in your nostrils and the warmth he radiates suddenly messes your head more than all the alcohol you've consumed this evening.
"I'm sure we can make it work, dark angel" he smiles, stretching out his hand towards you.
You take it, and he pulls you to himself immediately, as if afraid that you might get stolen.
"You know, that dark angel reaaaally sounds like a hooker's name. You know, I imagine right away some 40-year-old woman, smoking those long cigarettes, and drinking wine for breakfast and champagne for dinner. Then having one client and a beer in between them."
Stephen just looks at you, almost laughing out loud. The music is still quite energetic, but you're moving in a slow pace. " This is the most ridiculous thing I've heard today, and a guy told me about his weird dream where he's running away from a clown naked."
You laugh out loud, "Why did he tell you that in the first place?"
"Because, he thought that Doctor Strange can heal him from that nightmare." you raise your eyebrow, and he continues, "because I'm a magic doctor."
"Where's that guy? I wanna discuss that hooker's life with him, he seems really cool dude."
"Y/n," Strange sighs, swiftly making you spin and then pulling you closer to him, "remind me to never leave you alone with drinks"
"Uh, definitely not doing that." you put your head on his chest, and as if someone snapped their fingers, a slow rhythm fills the space.
"So, why did you chicken out when we were with Stark?" he asks, feeling your hands snake under his jacket, hugging his waist.
"God, you never forget your question, do you?" you murmur, face firmly pressed on his chest, you're now hoping that your makeup doesn't stain his white shirt.
"Nope. Was it that goatee? Did you feel enchanted by it? Of course, it was the goatee. Should I grow one too?" he asks, causing you to pull away and look up at him.
"If anyone has a spell on me in this room, it's you, silly. And no, before you ask a million questions again, it was not the beard. I can't imagine you with anything like that." he opened his mouth, ready to say something again, but you were not done yet. "I chickened out because I felt that we were not ready to put a label on whatever thing that we're doing."
Strange frowns, not understanding what's going on in that pretty head of yours. "The thing we're doing? Y/n, we've been together for almost 6 months now."
"Yeah, still hiding in each other rooms through portals and stealing kisses on every empty corner of Kamar-Taj grounds. I feel like I'm in high school again! And you think that no one noticed? The other day, Leta got me in a corner, saying that she overheard us in my room." you whisper-shout, not liking the looks people around you been giving since they heard your talk about smoking hooker.
"Well, I wanted to change it tonight." he says in somewhat accusing tone, "and I will."
"You will what"
"Ask you to be my girlfriend. Officially. No more hiding, no more secrets."
You're stunned. Was the martini really so strong? You must be dreaming. "You… What?"
"I know you heard me perfectly, I saw how your eyes got bigger. So, will you make me the happiest man in the whole New York?"
"Damn right I will" you say and pull Stephen by his tie into an almost suffocating kiss.
Meanwhile, Tony and Pepper watch the scene from a far, sharing all-knowing glances, thinking the same thing - Stephen finally found his match, his angel.