I Just Want You

I wake up to a gentle hand brushing against my hair.
My eyes open slowly, looking up at the source of the soft touch.

Stephen turns his head, smiling down at me, his hand still brushing through my hair gently.

I sit up quickly, looking at him with wide eyes.
“Stephen are you—are you okay?” I breathe, scanning over him frantically, checking for any sign of anything being wrong.

The bruises on his face are darker, but the color has returned to his lips and cheeks as he looks up at me with that same soft smile.
“Yes, I’m okay.” He answers quietly, sliding his hand around to my face to cup my cheek.

I relax slightly, giving him a tentative smile back as I reach over to hold his other hand in mine.
“You had me worried.” I say softly, leaning my cheek against his hand.

He laughs, a tired sound, but one that sounds like him.
“The Tony Stark was worried about me?” He asks.

I roll my eyes.
“Don’t push it.” I mutter, unable to hide my smile as I look at him.

He smiles back, stroking his thumb along my cheekbone.
“Thank you for staying with me.” He says quietly. “I sent Nat home a few hours ago, I wanted you to sleep.”

I scoot closer to him.
“Of course.” I whisper. “I’ll always stay with you.”

He smiles wider.

“Do you remember anything?” I ask him, shifting my gaze from his eyes to our hands.

He pauses for a moment before answering.
“Some.” He answers. “I remember when you got to the Sanctum, I remember you carrying me here.”

I nod, running my thumb along the back of his hand.

“I remember telling you I love you.” He says in a lower voice.

My thumb freezes in its path.
“Do you remember me telling you that I love you back?” I murmur, not looking up.

“I don’t.” He says in that same low tone, his hand tilting my chin up to look at him. “Do you? Love me back I mean?”

I can’t help but smile as I look back at him.
“I do.” I tell him softly. “I love you.”

He smiles, running his fingers along my cheek.
“I love you too.” He whispers back.

I stand up, leaning over the edge of the hospital bed to press a soft kiss against his lips.
He rests one hand on the back of my head, the other falling on the small of my back as he kisses me gently.
I rest my forehead against his as I pull away.

My chest suddenly heaves with a sob, and I duck my face down into the fabric of his hospital gown.
His arms wrap around my torso as I frantically try to hide the fact that I’m crying against his body in the silent room.

“Talk to me.” He whispers, rubbing my back gently.

I shake my head, taking a deep breath to force the tears back down.

“Then come lay with me.” He says, letting go just long enough to scoot over in the bed.
I step out of my shoes, climbing into his bed beside him, letting him pull the thin blanket up around me as he wraps me tightly in his arms.

“I thought you were going to die Stephen.” I breathe, my tears soaking into the gown against his chest. “I thought I would be here without you.”

He nods, his hands rubbing up and down my back again.
“I know.” He murmurs. “I thought I might not make it either.”

I twist to look up at him.
“But all I could think about was how badly I didn’t want to leave you behind.” He says, looking down at me.

He wipes a tear from my cheek.

“I’m sorry I took so long to get there.” I whisper. “Steve muted the emergency alerts.”

His eyes narrow.
“He muted them?” He asks.

I sigh.
“Yeah.” I answer. “And he tried to come onto me.”

His eyebrows raise as his eyes burn blue.
“Did he hurt you?” He asks, his voice louder as his arms pull me closer to his body.

I shake my head, reaching up to run my fingers down the side of his face gently.
“No, no.” I murmur. “No, I’m okay.”

He nods after a moment.

“He won’t be though.” I add on, and the corner of Stephen’s mouth twitches. “Do you want to hold him down while I hit him, or would you rather hit him while I hold him down?”

He can’t help but chuckle, shaking his head at my proposition.
“You can hit him.” He mutters after a moment. “Though it would feel nice.”

I laugh now, nuzzling my face into the crook of his neck as I do.
The doctor comes in a few minutes later, and I climb out of the bed as he dresses Stephen’s wound on his abdomen.

He releases Stephen shortly after, giving me care instructions as Stephen signs himself out.

“You do know that you’re coming home with me, right?” I ask as I help Stephen dress into clothes that one of the guys brought last night.

He laughs.
“You do know that I’m a medical doctor, right?” He asks back.

I pull the shirt over his head, pulling it down over the bandages around his torso.
“I do, but you’re still coming home with me.” I answer, kissing his nose.

He rolls his eyes, but chuckles as he takes my hand.
I pull his arm around my shoulders, wrapping my arm around his waist to support him as I help him walk out to the car I called for.

“I could transport us there.” He whispers as I help him into the car.

I shake my head, reaching over and buckling his seatbelt carefully around him.
“You aren’t ready for that yet.” I answer. “You have to heal before you get all wizard-y again.”

He nods, fighting to hide a soft smile that pulls at his lips.
I sit beside him, resting my head on his shoulder as the driver takes us to the compound.

I help him back out of the car once we arrive, silently hoping Steve isn’t home as we slowly walk to the door.
Luckily, we don’t run into him on the way to the elevator.

The only person who stops us is Peter, asking about Stephen quickly before hurrying back to his room.
I get Stephen into the elevator and up to my room, trying to ignore how pale he is by the time I lay him down in my bed.

“Are you okay?” I ask, arranging the pillow under his head as I tuck the blanket up around him.

He nods, his eyelids heavy as he looks up at me.

“You should sleep.” I whisper, pushing his hair away from his forehead as I press a kiss on the center.

He nods again, already falling asleep.
“Love you, Tony.” He murmurs.

I smile, though he doesn’t see it.
“Love you too.” I murmur back.

I stay in the room for a while, just sitting in the room to make sure he’s okay as he sleeps, but after thinking about the events of the day before, I decide that I can’t just sit in the room and do nothing.

I quietly get back in the elevator, asking FRIDAY for Steve’s location.
She tells me he’s in his room, so that’s where I go.

I knock on his door, rubbing my hands on my pants as I wait for him to open the door.
He opens the door slowly, stepping into view and looking at me with a surprised expression.

“Tony.” He says quietly. “I wasn’t expecting—”

My fist makes content with his nose with a sickening crunch.

“Don’t ever pull that shit with me or anyone else again.” I tell him, my voice low and dark.

A trickle of blood drips out of his nose as he grips the doorframe with white knuckles.

“I’m letting you off this time, we both know that’ll be healed in ten minutes, but if you ever do anything like this again, I swear to you, you will pay.” I spit, leaning closer and pressing a finger into his chest as I talk, not breaking eye contact with him.

He says nothing, so I turn on my heels to leave.

“I’m sorry Tony.” He says as I press the button on the elevator.

I turn back around, glaring at him.
“I don’t believe you.” I reply.

He shakes his head, wiping the back of his hand against the trickle of blood under his nose.
“I didn’t know he was hurt.” He answers. “I didn’t mean for that to happen.”

This time I’m the one who says nothing, stepping into the elevator and pressing the button to close the doors.
I cover my face with my hands as the elevator begins to move, ignoring the protest in my right hand as my knuckles begin to ache.

I stop in the kitchen, making coffee before heading back up to my room.
Stephen turns towards the door as I walk back into the bedroom, looking at me with a yawn.

“Sorry, I meant to be back when you woke up.” I say, taking a drink from my mug as I walk back over to the bed.
I climb into bed beside him, and he rests his head on my thigh.

“Sleep okay?” I ask, running my left hand down his arm as I carefully hold the mug with my right hand, ignoring the throbbing in my knuckles.

He nods.
“Where did you go?” He asks, looking up at me.

I shake my head, taking another drink from the mug.

“Are you going to let me see your hand, or are we going to pretend you didn’t hit someone or something?” He asks, raising his eyebrows as he looks at me.

I sigh, moving my mug to my left hand as I let him take my right in his hands.

“So I guess you didn’t want me to hold him down?” He asks, looking between my hand and my face with a smirk.

I smile down at him, shrugging.
“Didn’t want to wake you.” I answer. “You’re so pretty when you sleep.”

He rolls his eyes, but his smile grows.
“Nothing’s broken.” He says as he touches my knuckles. “But you’ll probably have a couple bruises.”

I groan.
“His head is hard as a damn rock.” I mutter, and Stephen laughs.

I lay back against the pillows, setting my mug on the side table as he wraps his body around mine, resting his head on my chest.
“I want to tell you something.” I whisper, running my fingers along his spine.

“Okay, go ahead.” He answers, whispering too.

I take a deep breath.
“You don’t have to stick around me if you don’t want to.” I say quietly.

He pushes away, twisting up to look at me with a sharp intake of breath.
I put my hand over his torso, looking at him with wide eyes as I think of the wound underneath splitting open.

He covers my hand with his, shaking his head as he looks into my eyes.
“Why would you say that?” He asks, his voice hardly audible.

I swallow hard.
“People who stay close to me typically get hurt.” I whisper, looking down at his hand over mine, picturing the bandages below. “You should have an out.”

He shakes his head again.
“I don’t want an out.” He whispers. “I told you weeks ago, and I’ll tell you forever, I just want you.”

He runs his fingers along my jawline gently, resting them on the tip of my chin.

“But Stephen, what if—” I start.

“I just want you, Tony Stark.” He says again, cutting me off.

I smile a small smile as he tilts my chin up to kiss me gently.

“I just want you, Stephen Strange.” I whisper against his lips, kissing him again.

He smiles and pulls me closer, and I finally feel at peace again.