Tony
“Boss you have an incoming text from Mister Parker. Shall I read it aloud?”
“Sure go ahead Fri.”
Tony switched off the blow torch he’d been using and set it to aside before lifting his welding mask and sitting back to listen. It was about time for a break anyways.
“The text reads: Sorry Mister Stark I’m gonna have to cancel on you again today. Something else came up. Don’t worry it’s not superhero stuff I’m just going to see a friend.”
Tony blinked twice and set his jaw, trying not to let his hurt and disappointment show even with only his own AIs there to witness it. Dum-E lowered his clawed head and hummed sadly having no such qualms and U froze and looked at his brother and dad tilting to one side as if in askance. The bots always liked it when Peter came over and unlike Tony they had no problem showing their dissatisfaction at the fact that Peter just cancelled on them, again.
“Friday?”
“Yes Boss?”
“How many times has Peter cancelled plans with me in the past month excluding school or superhero related activities?”
“Four times boss.”
Tony hummed thoughtfully. He'd told Peter before that if his friends wanted to come by they were welcome in the lab. Mainly he'd extended this invitation to Ned who was Peter's best friend, smart as hell, and one of the only non-avengers who knew the exact nature of Peter's internship, but if Pete had wanted other friends over Tony would have gladly played the part of Peter's super cool boss for an afternoon. Mainly just seeing Peter was the highlight of his week but now for the past month he'd been denied even that.
“And where pray tell does Peter go when he can't be bothered to spend time with little old me?”
Tony really asked it out of a sense of indulgent self pity over the fact that the one person who used to think he was the coolest in the world couldn't even be bothered to spend time with him. He most definitely did not ask the question expecting a definite answer. Nevertheless he had equipped the kid with a tracking device and he had an AI who liked to take initiative.
“177A Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village”
“What?”
“Sorry boss, I see now that your question was likely rhetorical.” It was amazing how Friday managed to sound both repentant and judgemental in the same sentence.
“Wait Peter has been ditching me to hang out...with Strange?”
Okay what? Tony didn’t know Strange very well but he was pretty sure the guy was not Peter’s speed at all. The only time the three of them had been together was over a year ago in space and Strange had been cold and dismissive. Granted the circumstances hadn’t been the best but the times since then when the man had offered an to assist Tony and the New Avengers Strange had always kept his distance. As far as Tony knew he barely smiled and he most definitely did not do ‘hanging out’.
Friday piped up again stopping that particular train of thought. “Technically he’s been ditching you to spend time at the New York Sanctum Of the Mystical Arts. He could be spending time with Doctor Strange, Wong, any number of the other masters, or simply pursuing their large array of mystical artifacts and books.”
“Wait Fri, exactly how many of the times that Pete bailed on me has he gone to the Sanctum?”
“All four of the instances in which he said that his reasons for rescheduling were not related to school or Spiderman activities and two in which he said that they were.”
No seriously what the Hell? Peter had ditched him for Strange a half a dozen times and said nothing about it, even lied about it. Was he cheating on Tony with another mentor figure?
“Okay calm down Tony,” he said aloud before he could start to let the niggling self doubts and fears of incompetence rear their ugly heads. “I'm sure there is a perfectly logical reason for Peter to spend time at the Sanctum that doesn't mean you're being replaced with the younger, shinier, and more magical model.”
He decided he'd find a reason to go over to the Sanctum. Or maybe just make up some excuse for why he needed to see Strange. Once he was there he could catch Peter red handed and find out what exactly he and Strange did that was so much cooler than helping with Tony's latest project.
He had to admit it wasn't his most sophisticated plan but he had nothing else pressing to attend to. He'd already cleared his schedule so why not solve a puzzle involving people rather than machines.
Tony arrived at the front door of the Sanctum shortly after taking on his new quest. His nanosuit melted away into his usual tracksuit leaving him standing on the doorstep holding a small Asgardian artifact that Thor had left at the compound the last time he and Bruce were in town.
Tony figured the artifact was as good an excuse as any for him to want to see Strange since he actually had no idea what it was. He had asked Thor last time he used the magical interdimensional video call but he had only laughed and told Tony to hold on to it for him until he and Bruce returned to Midgard. So Tony came all the way to the Sanctum purely out of curiosity for this Asgardian doodad and not at all to follow his protege out of a totally justified sense of abandonment and betrayal.
Tony raised a hand knocked three times. Steady, confident, and businesslike. ‘Nicely done Tony.’ He barely had time to finish congratulating himself and hadn’t so much as lowered his hand or stepped back before the door suddenly opened and he was standing face to chest with the Sorcerer Supreme.
“Stark?”
Usually Tony would have his suit on when he saw Strange so their height difference wasn’t as pronounced. As it was because of their proximity to the threshold Tony was left with an important choice to either look up at Strange or back away to properly look him in the eye while they conversed. ‘Stupid tall wizard’
In the end his pride won out and he stepped back but not before faintly registering a small whiff of Strange’s scent. He didn’t have the heavy sort of smell Tony would’ve expected to associate with someone who lived in a building that was about a thousand years old and filled with tomes and relics. Instead Strange always smelled clean and not quite in the sterile way of a hospital either. His smell was something fresher with hints of mint and pine.
As he stepped back he also really took in Strange’s choice in attire. It wasn’t his usual saving the world tunic and belt number that he still somehow managed to pull off. Instead form fitting white washed jeans showcased miles of leg and a soft looking unbuttoned sweater with the sleeves pulled down hid his trembling scarred hands. Tony was much more interested however in the faded T Shirt underneath the sweater that bared a broad surprisingly muscular chest that he hadn’t yet had the privilege of seeing. Tony was on the verge of humming appreciatively when Strange cleared his throat.
“Stark as thrilled as I am by this unprompted and completely unwanted interaction, I’m sure you didn’t fly all the way down here to stand in my doorway and ogle me.”
“My apologies Master Kenobi I’m just not used to seeing you out of robes is all.” Tony meant to make a mental note to maybe not be so obvious the next time he was obviously checking Strange out but then got caught up on the implication of there being a next time.
“You know I’m from Earth right?” Strange drawled rolling his eyes dramatically.
“Really?” Tony gasped putting a hand to his nanobot housing unit in mock shock. “And here I thought you were from New York?”
“Nebraska actually.”
“No kidding.”
“My point, is if you give me a once over like that for a pair of jeans and a cardigan I’d hate to see how you greet your Asgardian friends when they insist on wearing tank tops and sweatpants.”
“First if all, if you’re referring to Thor, even though that man is taken it would be criminal not to give him a thorough once over, especially during grey sweatpants season. Bruce will forgive me.”
“Somehow I doubt Thor’s other half’s other half would be so forgiving. I hear he has a temper.”
“Second of all,” Tony forged on willfully ignoring Strange’s quips. “I’m actually here in part because of Thor.”
Strange quirked an eyebrow at that. His annoyance fell away easily into bemused curiosity and he stepped aside gesturing Tony past. “By all means come in. Make yourself at home.”
Tony stepped past Strange into the corridor and was there for all of one second before all of a sudden he was in the Sanctum’s library. Tony stumbled at his sudden change of locale before Strange’s hands found him and steadied him on his feet.
“What the Hell?”
“I apologise Stark I should have warned you. Often if the Sanctum knows where I wish to go it expedites the process and has a habit of tugging my guests along with me.” Strange had the audacity to have a funny smile on his face but it was not directed at Tony. He looked almost nostalgic, like he was remembering the good times between him and his crazy fun house.
Tony didn’t get a chance to further question it because he heard a familiar voice calling out.
“Mister Doctor Strange! You know you guys don’t have any food in here right?”
Strange turned from Tony calling back in his booming voice “Well maybe it’s because some entitled teenager keeps eating me and Wong out of our already meager house and home whenever he visits.”
“I’m sorry! I just get really hungry after school and then I forget to...Uh Mister Doctor Strange? I think this takeout container is growling at me.”
“Peter!” Strange yelled out warningly before turning on his heel. He took two steps and then suddenly he and Tony were in the kitchen. This time Tony knew what was happening but it was still jarring and left Tony banging his shin excruciatingly hard on a chair that wasn’t right in front of him a moment prior.
‘Stupid magic house’ he thought rubbing his shin as he saw Strange pluck a large takeout container with holes poked in the top out of Peter’s hands before depositing it back in the fridge.
“Peter that was not takeout, that was a small frost creature from Jotunheim that Wong and I are studying.”
“Woah really? You’re keeping a mini frost giant in your fridge?” Far from being concerned by this information Peter lit up like it was Christmas Morning and Comic Con all rolled into one.
Strange was not so amused his tone still as flat as ever while he corrected the excitable teen. “She is not a frost giant more like a poisonous frost gerbil, and it’s too warm for her anywhere else. If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a dozen times Peter please don’t just touch things while you’re here especially when I’m not around.”
“I didn’t know that counted things in the fridge.”
“Especially things in the fridge.”
Peter seemed especially put out by the scolding and tried to find a place to look that wasn’t at Strange and that's when his eyes found Tony and widened as though he were the one with poisonous fangs and freezing abilities.
“Mister Stark? What are you doing here?”
“Well my plans cancelled on me so I thought I’d use my free time to ask Strange about an artifact Thor left at the compound.” Tony held up his prop and the physical proof needed to corroborate his story.
Before he could ask Peter what he was doing here, Strange’s eyes alighted on the artifact and he plucked it out of Tony’s hands. Again Strange turned and all of a sudden the three of them were back in the library. Stephen held the artifact under a large microscope and studied it while summoning some books to him with his free hand. Peter landed safe and sound in the middle of a plush sofa while Tony ran face first into a bookshelf.
“Would you please stop doing that?” Tony turned to yell at Strange but all he got was a shrug in return as the man was already thoroughly engrossed in identifying the Asgardian doodad.
“Mister Stark.”
Tony turned facing the young man who had been his real reason for coming to the Sanctum and all of his anger, annoyance, and hurt melted away. One look at the kid's face told him that Peter felt awful and not just about Tony being accosted by Strange's furniture.
“I'm really sorry for bailing on you Mister Stark, it's just lately I got to spend some time with Mister Doctor Strange and he's actually really cool. I've kinda been splitting my time between you guys because I think when I don't come over he gets lonely...”
Peter trailed off from that thought and the words ‘just like you do’ hung unspoken in the air between them.
“Well I'm glad.” Tony said at last reaching out and clapping Peter on the shoulder. “Everybody needs friends. I'm sure Strange knows how lucky he is to have you when he does.”
Peter beamed his thousand watt smile at that and all traces of his previous guilt were obliterated.
“Stark.” Strange's voice broke apart their brief moment of tenderness as he beckoned Tony to his side to speak in hushed tones.
He was holding the Asgardian doodad away from himself between two trembling fingers and beside him was an open book that Tony thought seemed less worn than most of the others.
“It seems that you have brought me an Asgardian personal massager.”
Tony blinked twice not quite computing what he was hearing.
“Come again”
“This artifact as you called it is indeed magic but it is meant to magically respond to the will of an individual once it is inserted into their partner.”
“Dear God. Those kinky bastards.”
“Indeed.” as Strange continued to explain how the doodad worked Tony studied it closely for the first time and yeah now he saw it. The thing was roughly half the length of Tony's forearm (good for you Bruce) and it got slightly thicker towards one knobbed end. It had a series of smoothed twisting grooves in it that Tony had at first thought were some form of Asgardian writing but now he realized were probably there for another reason.
Strange pressed on. “This one has a special series of enchantments beyond the standard functions of vibration, twisting, and thrusting actions it also conducts small pleasurable jolts of electricity and enlarges if the opening it's inserted into happens to get larger during... stimulation.”
“So what you're saying is that this,” Tony took pity on Strange and grabbed it back. “Is a magical vibrator for the Hulk.”
“That is precisely what I am saying.”
The two men managed to stare at each other with twin serious expressions for all of about three seconds before they burst into uncontrollable laughter at the sheer hilarity of the situation. They tried and failed the get their peals of laughter to subside but they started anew as Peter asked them what was so funny and looked put out by the fact that he was not in on the joke.
Peter's frown intensified as the two men kept laughing. They tapered off when Tony latched onto Strange and started wheezing due to his decreased lung capacity. Almost without thinking Strange reached a hand behind Tony and rubbed soothing circles in his back. He didn't stop when Tony regained his breath and if Tony didn't let go either and leaned into the caring touch he didn't seem to mind enough to comment on it.
Their eyes met, Tony's grateful and Stephen's inexplicably fond. A layer of posturing that had existed between them seemed to have been broken for the first time since that night in space almost a year prior.
Without looking away from Stephen's eyes Tony answered the now thoroughly exasperated teen at last. His voice coming out low and scratchy.
“It’s nothing Pete. We'll tell you when you're older.” This earned Tony one last low chuckle from Strange before the man went back to looking all business. He gave Tony's back one last caress before his smile disappeared and he slid out of Tony's space to portal the book back to where it came from.
Tony inexplicably found himself mourning the loss of contact and had to stop himself from reaching back to where Stephen touched him as if to hold in his heat a while longer. Tony shook his head clearing it of those kind of irrational thoughts and trying to dampen the stupid grin he knew he was wearing. He completely missed the murderous glare Peter was throwing his way as he watched Strange work his magic.
An idea struck him.
“Well Strange, I'm sorry to have wasted your time. How about to make it up to you I buy you and Pete dinner. I can order in whatever you guys want and I'll even throw in some extra food so you can stock your fridge with something besides Killer Frost Gerbils.”
Stephen's smile was back when he answered closing his portal and turning back to the two of them. “Thanks Tony. That actually sounds lovely.”
That's how Tony and Stephen first started spending time together. Tony ended up ordering take out from three different places and extras of everything. The three spent the night in the library eating as Stephen and Tony got to know each other better. They shared stories and laughed neither one noticing that Peter had gone suspiciously quiet only chipping in every once in a while and moodily picking at his food.