You Could Make a Case for That

The prompt for this one was kind of ridiculous. After Tony (maybe Toni) "nearly died at the hands of his former soulmate," he gets a new soulmark that matches Dr. Strange. Apparently the writer thinks Tony looked more than half-dead at the end of Civil War while he was walking around just fine being appropriately called Tony Stank. And neither Steve nor Stephen would be interested in a blowhard like Tony. I'd think practically anyone would rather laser off their soulmark if they found it matched Tony's.

Let's look at a more likely scenario.

Note: Set in an AU where Dr. Strange and Tony met post-Civil War, with no Infinity War.

Dr. Stephen Strange frowned. Why was he the one stuck dealing with the douchebag Iron Man? Wasn't Stark the Avengers' problem?

He sighed and rubbed his forehead as he remembered that most of the Avengers had disappeared after refusing to sign away their human rights. Thankfully Strange and Wong were still flying under the radar.

But that meant Stephen couldn't do anything too drastic to convince Stark to leave him alone.

Too bad Stephen wasn't the kind of magician that could turn people into frogs.

The cloak slapped Stark's hand as Stark reached for Stephen's sleeve. Stephen looked at Stark and asked, "What do you think you're doing?"

Stark stepped closer and pulled Stephen's sleeve back to show a frankly embarrassing mark on Stephen's arm. It was supposed to be Kermit the Frog wearing a surgeon's mask, but the green-on-green and poor design turned it into a blob.

Stark said, "Look! I only caught a glimpse of it during the battle last week, but I KNEW as soon as I saw it."

Then Stark pulled his own collar down to show the exact same green blob on his chest. Stark said, "We're soulmates! Here's the proof. We have the EXACT same soulmark."

Stark moved closer to Stephen and continued, "I was afraid that I was doomed after my last soulmate almost killed me by disabling my suit while I was trying to murder his buddy. But then a new soulmark appeared. OUR soulmark."

Stephen just stared for a moment. Then he said, "That's not my soulmark. That's an unfortunate tattoo that I never got around to removing, as a reminder not to be drunk and stupid."

He pointed at Stark's "soulmark" and continued, "And THAT is not a soulmark, either. It's obviously a tattoo as well. You can still see the inflammation."

The cloak was rippling with mirth as Stephen turned away. But his former healer's oath made him say, "And you may want to get that looked at, soon. It could be infected."

A year later, after Thanos was easily defeated (partly because Stephen had sent himself and the Spider-Man back to Earth when Stark refused to turn the aliens' space ship around), Stephen found himself officially meeting the rest of the former Avengers in Wakanda after the battle.

He asked, "So which one of you was Stark's former soulmate?" Stephen wanted to express his sympathies.

The group looked at each other. Most of them laughed, but the former Captain America--Steve--said, "We were never actually soulmates."

Natasha smirked and said, "Not for lack of effort, at least on Tony's part."

After the alien tree said, "I am GROOT" and the raccoon said, "Yeah, I wanna hear this too," Steve sighed and nodded.

He set down his drink and said, "It was pretty soon after I woke up. Apparently Tony got this idea into his head that I was sent into the ice so I'd be ready to meet my soulmate in this century. He got a hold of some REALLY embarrassing photos that were part of the Project Rebirth file, the Before and After."

Stephen winced at the invasion of privacy.

Steve continued, "My actual soulmark wasn't visible in any of them, but Tony convinced himself that some of my freckles were actually a constellation. So he had similar marks implanted somehow on his leg."

Stephen had to smile at the former captain's charming blush.

With a shrug, Steve concluded, "I couldn't convince Tony that he was wrong, and I wasn't going to actually show him my soulmark. For years he claimed we were destined to be together. Until the whole Accords fiasco."

Saving the universe (without waiting for United Nations approval or permission) went a long way to getting the Accords abolished. Over months of conversations, visits, and missions, Stephen realized how well he and Steve fit together.

That became even more true as they started dating and getting closer. The cloak was definitely enchanted with Steve, going by how often Stephen found the cloak wrapped around Steve's shoulders.

As the relationship developed, neither one mentioned their soulmarks.

Until finally they took their relationship to the next level.

Steve seemed very nervous about something as they entered the bedroom. He turned and took Stephen's hand, and had them sit on the bed. Steve said, "I have to tell you something."

Steve swallowed and pulled a folded piece of paper out of his shirt pocket. He said, "I just wanted you to know, you won't see my soulmark. I only ever saw it growing up, when my mom practically shaved me bald when summer started. I haven't had my hair that short since I left school."

He handed the paper to Stephen.

Stephen held his breath as he opened it and saw...he couldn't help laughing. He said, "This seems awfully familiar."

Then he stood up, opened his pants, and pulled everything down far enough to show the mark on his hip.

The exact same mark on the paper in his hand.

Steve's smile was a beautiful thing.

Their night together--the first of a lifetime--was even better.

Later, Stephen was tempted to send Stark a wedding announcement and a photo just to show him what a soulmark actually looked like. But instead he just decided to be glad that at least in this universe, no one got stuck with Tony Stark for a soulmate.