Multiverse Of Madness
Stephen pulled himself out of bed the next morning when the smell of bacon and pancakes wafted through his nose. Genevieve wasn’t at his side. You didn’t need to be a doctor to deduce why it smelt like that.
After brushing his teeth and putting on a robe, he went downstairs, the smell only getting stronger. “Breakfast?” He asked when he arrived in the kitchen, seeing Genevieve frying bacon. She turned around and revealed that she was wearing nothing but a simple sports bra and a pair of short pants. “Good morning, Stephen.”
“Good morning.” While she made breakfast, Stephen scrolled through his phone.
Wong: How is Miss Sorceress Supreme?
She’s hot, but really arrogant
Wong: Just like you
Haha, funny
Christine: I don’t know if you’ve gotten your mail recently but I think you should check it
Is this about your wedding?
Christine: Yes. Why haven’t you RSVP’d yet?
If he was going to answer truthfully, he didn’t want to go to Christine’s wedding. Who would want to go to their ex’s wedding? Even though they’ve been apart for more than 6 years at this point, past feelings had their way of lingering. What if’s have haunted his mind since they split and no matter how hard he tried (which actually wasn’t very hard) he would always be left with the same feeling of yearning for a woman he would never get back.
I haven’t checked my schedule yet. I don’t know if I’m free that day
He lied through his teeth.
Christine: Well you better make a plan because I really want to see you there.
A sigh escaped Stephen’s mouth just as Genevieve put both their plates on the table. He looked at her, taking note of how curly her red locks were. Yesterday they were straight, but now her hair was made up of tight screwdriver curls. He assumed that this was the state of her natural hair. He liked it better this way.
“Are you gonna tell me what’s wrong or are you just gonna look at me like that?” Stephen looked away for a second, deciding on whether it was a good thing for him to do. “I’ve been invited to my ex’s wedding.”
Suddenly, her facial expressions softened and she looked as if she was sorry for him. “Yikes. I assume you’re gonna need a date.” Stephen pressed his eyebrows together in confusion. “Well you’re going to your ex-girlfriend’s wedding you at least have to try and show her what she’s missing.”
Genevieve had a point.
But then again, he had no one to go with. “I’ll go with you,” she said nonchalantly. As if going out with Stephen was a daily occurrence. “What makes you think I want to go with you of all people?”
His snarky comment earned a grin from her lips. “Because both of us know that you’re not romantically intertwined with anyone…and showing up to your ex’s wedding without a date would just be embarrassing because everyone you know would think that you were just there to win her over again and ruin her wedding.” Stephen was called out by her statement. It’s as if she was reading his mind. Let’s be real, she probably was.
“Nobody wants to be in that position.” She shrugged, picking up her utensils. “Especially people like us.” Stephen pressed his lips together, then chose to dig into his breakfast. The pancakes were amazing. So much better than what he used to make. The right amount of fluffy and stiff and the bacon added a much needed saltiness to the mix. This was the best breakfast he’s had since…his mother died.
“You can come with me,” Stephen chose to reply after a while. The last thing he wanted to do was look like a fool in front of everyone else when he had spent so long crafting this arrogant and egotistical persona. At least he was going with someone as hot as Genevieve. God, the things he would do to her.
“Great. We’ll have to go outfit shopping today but before that we need to fix up a tear in Toronto.” The way Genevieve said it made it sound like a tear in the multiverse wasn’t such a big deal. “I’m sure you read up on them last night.”
Stephen wasn’t one to go into things unprepared. He used to be a neurosurgeon after all. The amount of preparation that went into performing a single surgery had made him somewhat of a perfectionist, but he had to let all of that go as soon as he began his training at the Kamar-Taj. Now he was on his own, and those perfectionist tendencies came back in full swing. He spent most of the day yesterday looking up multiversal tears and spells to seal them for good. Time well spent.
“That evil Captain America you fought was a variant. They can come in all shapes and sizes…some look like our version of that person or they could be completely different. They shouldn’t really be all that dangerous, all we have to do is send them back to their reality.” He relayed the information back to her and all she did was nod while eating.
“If we don’t find a variant today, then I owe you a drink.” The proposal piqued his interests immediately. Drinks. At a bar. Like a date...thing. “You’re talking about this like it couldn’t destroy the fabric of the universe.” Stephen took the hard-to-get approach that he remembers Christine falling head over heels for.
“Come on, Stephen.” His body had a reaction to her words again, sparks shooting out of his fingertips. He hoped Genevieve didn’t notice. “Don’t be such a hard ass! Have some fun. Live a little.” The cheer in her voice was enough to persuade any man on earth. A night out with her seemed like one you wouldn’t want to end.
After staring at her, completely unimpressed, he sighed. “Fine.”
Secretly, both of them were praying that there was just a tear in the multiverse with no variants in sight.
Snowflakes fell on Stephen’s head when they reached Toronto. It was much chillier then it was back in New York City, whenever he spoke, a cloud of white would escape his mouth. His hands were shoved deep in the pockets of his coat as he followed Genevieve.
The watch on her wrist beeped, indicating that the tear was somewhere near here. They slipped into an alleyway and the tear came in full view. It came from against the wall and looked exactly like a cut in some skin but instead of blood seeping out of it, it was just a purple. Golden branches moved throughout the purple background, all intertwined like vines scaling up the side of an old wall. "The Multiverse..." he mumbled underneath his breath while Genevieve got to work.
She casted her spell by wrapping a golden band of runes and magic around her wrist. Stephen did the same, using a different spell to hers. One that they hoped would secure the tear. The moment she casted her spell at the tear, it sealed seamlessly, yet Stephen threw his against the repaired all just to be safe.
The beeping coming from her watch stopped. “No more tears, no more variants. Guess we’re going for drinks tonight.” The smile on her face was triumphant. Stephen pushed down his smile, excitement running through his body. Drinks with Genevieve Archer. Maybe this was his chance to throw his shot. Heaven knows that he’s not going to throw away his shot.
The pair wandered around Toronto for a while just to make sure that there really weren’t any variants around. When the city was in the clear, they headed back to the Sanctum. While they were putting their coats down, their gloved hands brushed. Both Sorcerer’s turned red, but, as one does, they both blamed it on the switch from ice cold weather to oven warm.
~~~
“Stephen!” Genevieve called when the sun began to meet the horizon. She stuck her head in the doorway of his room, clearly hiding her body. “Are you ready-” She stopped in her tracks when their eyes met.
Stephen changed, wearing a white button up shirt and a pair of black jeans. He looked very fancy-casual, a little bit overdressed for the occasion. Genevieve, however, didn’t know how to dress for drinks either. When she walked into the room and leaned against the doorframe, the air got knocked right out of Stephen’s chest.
She wore a skin tight silver sequin dress which revealed quite a bit of her cleavage. Not to mention that the dress was short, leaving just enough to the imagination. She had straightened her hair again, the long red locks resting on her shoulder comfortably. “So much for dressing for the occasion.”
Stephen let a chuckle fall out of his parted lips while trying to rip his eyes away from her chest. It’s been so long since he’s had any type of attention from a woman, nonetheless one this sexy. Her body was something straight out of his dreams. Everything about Genevieve was screaming “fuck me!” tonight.
“Maybe we should go out for dinner as well,” he suggested, walking over to her after grabbing his wallet from the dresser. “I know a good place in Soho.” The smile on her face was something to savor. “Well then, Doctor Strange, take me away.”
A Friday night during the holiday season wasn’t the best choice for a night out, especially for two Sorcerer’s who preferred a quiet evening over the hustle and bustle of New York City. As they walked through the crowded streets, the two were forced closer together. Stephen didn’t mind. Whatever got him closer to her.
Upon arriving at the fancy restaurant, they got a table further in the back, leaving the crowd of people alone. After placing their orders and getting wine, Stephen and Genevieve tried to ease their way into conversation. While she explained something about the Kamar-Taj, he tried his best to listen. But he couldn’t. His mind was wandering far into places where it shouldn’t be. Pinning her down on the wall of the bathroom, pressing kisses all over her body. He would do anything to hear her moan her name while he had his fingers inside of her.
“While I was doing some reading,” he started when she finished her explanation. “I found out about previous Sorcerer Supremes.” A spark was suddenly lit behind her eyes. “Most, if not all of them, have been soulmates. And I don’t think soulmates are real.” Genevieve scoffed, taking a sip of her wine. “Of course you don’t, you’re a doctor.” He rolled his eyes. “Maybe it’s because the person who I thought was my soulmate left me.” Stephen kept his voice sarcastic. “But she wasn’t the Sorceress Supreme, wasn’t she?”
They kept their eye contact, a grin on her face. Right now, Stephen wanted to reach over this small table, grab her cheeks and kiss her. Just to prove the theory wrong. They weren’t soulmates, in spite of Stephen’s innate attraction to her. In spite of the way he would burn up whenever she made an attempt at flirting with him. In spite of it all, Stephen knew that they weren’t soulmates.
“Do you want to test your theory, Stephen?” His cheeks turned red, butterflies crawling in his stomach. “Will you stop reading my mind?” Genevieve waved her hand in the air, sparks shooting out of her fingertips. “Why don’t you read mine? Seems like you don’t know that we have this ability.”
Usually, Stephen strayed away from reading minds. Especially after tapping into the mind of Spider-Man while Tony Stark was dying in his arms.
“Please…don’t leave…me…please…Tony.”
Those words echoed through his mind whenever he would think about reading minds. Hence why he steered away from it. Besides, it felt like an invasion of privacy. But now that he had consent, he was about to run wild with it.
They kept intense eye contact while Stephen tapped into her head.
Genevieve’s thoughts were messy, like words that he needed to unscramble. So many voices were clouding her brain, all of them sounding just like her, but he couldn’t make out the one that was in fact Genevieve. He tried his best to focus and make out a string of coherent thoughts.
“Stephen’s got pretty eyes. I wonder if he knows how pretty his eyes are.”
Instantly, he broke eye contact, feeling heat flush his body. Just in time, the food arrived, but he was still tapped into her thoughts.
“I’m going to prove him wrong tonight.”
After the tension filled dinner, the two sorcerer’s made their way back to the Sanctum. Genevieve’s thoughts were crawling over his skin, slicing through the flesh like a hot knife through butter. On the walk home, they were beginning to leave scars. Especially when she looked up at him with those eyes. Half shut, batting eyelashes, and honey brown eyes.
“If she looks at me like that one more time…” Stephen thought the moment they reached the doors of the Sanctum. As if there was a cue, Genevieve looked at him again with those eyes. “Can I prove you wrong, Doctor Strange?” The mention of his title made his stomach whirl.
“Be my guest, Miss Archer.”
With that, she got to the tips of her toes and cupped his cheeks with her gloved hands. The closer their lips got, the more he anticipated it. It began to feel like there was a magnet, pulling them together in ways neither of them could control.
As the snow fell slowly onto their shoulders, their lips came into soft contact. Even though their touch was feather light, to them it felt like the whole world was set a light. Stephen’s skin began to crawl. For a moment there, it felt like she knocked his soul out of his body. Just by a kiss. A small little kiss.
The moment he actually kissed her, his whole world was turned upside down. Fireworks went off. Butterflies flew around his stomach. This was nothing like Christine. Nothing like any woman he’s kissed before. This was what he’s been chasing for all his life. This is what he wanted. She was what he wanted.
“Did I prove you wrong?” Genevieve asked when they broke the kiss. Stephen smiled sheepishly. “You convinced me. You did.” The smile that spread across her face made him fall in love with a woman he met a day ago.