Stephen
When Stephen had told Peter he shouldn’t hesitate to ask for help he assumed because of the circumstances that it was a given that he meant help in his superhero duties as Spiderman. He did not mean it as an offer to tutor him in AP Biology.
However not two days later he found himself in the Sanctum’s Library quizzing Peter on the cell cycle. The next week Peter came back to tell him he passed the test with flying colors and brought him a box of teas to thank him that he said May had helped put together with her favourite flavours.
Stephen was surprised at the thoughtfulness of the gesture and thought that would be it for his social interactions for a while. When Peter showed up the next week with no pretense other than that he was simply in the neighborhood Stephen started to realise that maybe this wasn’t just a one off thing. He and Peter were friends.
Besides Wong, Stephen didn’t really have very many friends. Sure he had the New Avengers but he hadn’t been very close with any of them so he didn’t usually end up just spending time with them casually outside of when they needed his magical expertise. He had Christine but she wasn’t exactly the kind of friend he could casually hang out with even if she wasn’t always on call at the hospital.
Stephen came to really enjoy being friends with Peter. It didn’t change Stephen’s routine much Peter was usually just content to watch him take care of his duties around the Sanctum. He offered to help out when he could and always had that same amazed slack jawed expression when Stephen did even the tiniest bit of magic.
Having Peter around meant getting used to noise and laughter in the Sanctum. Getting used to being bombarded with a thousand questions about magic and a thousand more about unexpected random things that usually started with ‘ Doctor Strange who would win in a fight between…?’ or ‘Doctor Strange what do you think would happen if…?’ Sometimes they wouldn’t say much at all. Peter would work on homework and Stephen would meditate or study both in a companionable comfortable silence. Stephen got good at feeling when Peter was about to break the silence. Peter’s energy would shift and rise bubbling over and exploding into another volley of questions or Peter leaping up and swinging through the halls to find something to entertain himself.
Peter was a handful but Stephen knew he was no different. He had been told he wasn’t always the best person to be around and yet Peter would always come back even when Stephen would snap at him or be an ass or even when all they did together is organize the Sanctums dustiest old relics. The day that Tony Stark showed up at his door with a flimsy excuse of needing him to look at a so called ‘relic’ it was not exactly a surprise that the man was there. He knew that Peter was like a son to him and figured sooner or later Peter’s visits might make their paths cross again.
He was however surprised that somehow in that one visit of eating takeout and swapping stories late into the night long after Peter had gone home (it was a school night after all) Stark somehow became Tony.
Stark was rude testy and defensive and did not trust easily, but Tony was a kind caretaker and nurturer. Stark was larger than life and ruthlessly cutting, but Tony had a nerdy and self deprecating sense of humor in addition to all of the usual clever sass and sarcasm. Tony was very expressive with his body and a tactile person and Stephen soon found himself very much smitten.
At first when Stephen was so ready to linger in a touch or glance longer than strictly necessary he thought it was just because he was lonely. When hanging out with Peter and Tony started to lead with actually becoming friends with the rest of the team, he knew that Tony was special to him.
That left Stephen with the question of what to do about his feelings for Tony. Tony’s bisexuality was not exactly a well kept secret so Stephen didn’t have to worry on that front. What he was more concerned about was the possibility that Tony would simply not be interested. He knew that Tony made his jokes and flirted with him, but he assumed that whenever Tony was single ‘flirt’ was just another one of his personality traits.
When Tony started to become as much of a permanent feature in his life as Peter was, Stephen knew he had to do something about his feelings so he decided he needed advice. The obvious choices of Colonel Rhodes and Pepper Potts are out especially since Pepper's history with Tony and Rhodes’ protective streak are part of what makes him want to drop the whole thing and portal himself to another dimension.
Bruce is the next closest to Tony and even though the man is very likeable and in a committed relationship with a literal god. Stephen suspects Bruce isn't the kind to be good with giving advice on other's feelings especially since Stephen is not much better himself. Wong is Stephen's closest friend but Stephen felt like he would say relationships are trivial and a distraction from spiritual connection to the mystic arts or something else similarly disheartening.
The answer quite literally just came to him one day when Peter swung by for a visit. Of course he should ask Peter. He was young so he had the benefit of a different perspective, free from years of baggage. Stephen had seen first hand that sometimes Peter was wise beyond his years.
It was a quiet day where both Peter and Stephen were studying in the Sanctum’s library Stephen was levitating in his usual corner and instead of sprawling in his usual place on the couch Peter was hanging upside down with his textbook claiming that the gravity would pull the knowledge down so it couldn’t escape his brain. As a medical professional Stephen felt obligated to tell him that wasn’t how it worked and under normal circumstances the opposite would be true but he’d also seen Peter hang upside down like that for hours at a time with no effects so what did he know.
Stephen wasn’t even really paying attention to his meditation instead his mind was on Tony and on how best to broach the subject with Peter. Stephen was far from being the proud man he was before his accident but it still rankled him slightly that he was reduced to asking a seventeen year old for dating advice.
Perhaps that’s why he didn’t just come right out with the question.
“Peter...Peter.” The teen didn’t respond and Stephen belatedly realised it was because he had his earphones in.
With a few quick hand gestures Stephen sent a gust of wind across the room flipped a few pages of the textbook while mussing Peter’s hair.
“Hey! Doctor Strange what gives?” Peter groaned taking out his earbuds and angling his still upside down body towards Stephen.
Stephen hesitated. Now that he was actually going to talk about this thing between him and Tony out loud it made it seem more real.
“Peter, I have this friend-”
“Is this one of those we’re both going to pretend that the ‘friend’ isn’t you stories. Like the one about the wizard who all the other wizards at magic school used to think was insufferable?”
“Peter, please.”
Peter took pity on Stephen able to see that whatever he was trying to say had rendered him uncharacteristically inarticulate. He dropped from the ceiling and into an upright position in one swing and sat looking at Stephen expectantly.
“This friend,” Stephen began again. “He is someone who I have recently come to enjoy being around and who I think I may have grown attached to.”
Peter’s eyes widened like saucers at this and his body went so slack Stephen was sure had he still been hanging from the ceiling he would have come crashing down.
“Attached how Doctor Strange?”
“I think I may have some… romantic feelings for him.”
Peter swallowed and Stephen could see thee tips of his ears start burning even from where he floated across the room. Stephen feigned nonchalance and tried to quell his cheeks urge to match Peter’s hue. Wow he needed to work on talking about his feelings.
“There’s a lot of reasons why I shouldn’t go for it.” Stephen forged on, “He’s a superhero which could get complicated but he also understands me in a way no one else does. There’s a bit of an age difference, even though I know I’m not exactly young myself and he is a very young soul. His other friends are very protective but I know it’s just because they really care about him. He’s really one of the main friends that I have and I don’t even know if he likes me back or if he’s just being nice. Basically I’m telling you all this because I require a second opinion.”
Stephen unfolded his legs from the air and crossed flopping down next to Peter on the couch emotionally exhausted while he waited for some sort of response.
When Peter finally snapped himself out of his nearly catatonic state his answer was “Doctor Strange, if you’re asking whether or not you should make a move on… this guy, I think the answer is yes. I’m pretty sure he likes you too and maybe he just hasn’t asked you yet because he thought there was absolutely no way you would ever like him back.”
Stephen was shocked by the sureness with which Peter gave his answer. “But what if-”
“Trust me on this. I know he will feel the same way.” Peter at last met Stephen’s eye firmly as if he were trying to press those words onto his soul.
After a moment Stephen figured that was a clear an answer as any. He should tell Tony about his feelings and let him know that he was willing to try to build something together. The way that Peter was talking sounded like he had inside knowledge. Maybe he and Tony had talked about him, or maybe what Stephen felt between them was real and more obvious than he thought.
He thanked Peter for hs advice and even pulled him into his side and patted his shoulder before pulling away and straightening up. He decided he wasn’t going to waste another second he would go to Tony and tell him how he felt before the new found assurances Peter gave him wore off.
He was so busy psyching himself up that he missed the confused looks Peter gave him while he ushered him out of the Sanctum.