Tony
Tony was in his lab tinkering on his latest project when he saw the first hint of sparks that announced Stephen’s arrival. He had time to hide it away, shut down his hologram, and stand towards the portal expectantly.
One of the many things that Tony appreciated about Stephen was that he now took his time when portalling near Tony in order to give the man some semblance of time to prepare himself. Stephen had learned this lesson after the disastrous time he portalled in and almost got hit by Tony’s repulsor right before he went into a miniature panic attack.
This time when Stephen stepped through the ring of sparks with a warm if reluctant smile on his face Tony barely felt any traces of anxiety. He had come to associate the magic with the man.
“Hey there Glinda what brings you to my domain?”
“Wow Glinda huh? I guess that would make you a Munchkin.”
Okay so maybe ‘Glinda’ wasn’t Tony’s best work when it came to witch nicknames but lately being around Stephen made Tony tempted to go into full dork mode just on the off chance that he would make Stephen smile or that he would get to hear one of his rare melodic laughs. He knew he had it bad, but Stephen was either completely oblivious to that fact or was trying to let him down easy by completely ignoring his blatant flirting. Teasing and banter he could do because at least then Stephen would match him quip for quip.
“Nuh uh baby this is Dorothy you’re talking to.” Tony gave him a dramatic spin “You should see me rock some ruby red heels.”
“I already have.” At Tony’s raised eyebrow Stephen continued. “I think you’re forgetting that every Halloween costume you’ve ever worn has made the news, not to mention all those damn celebrity gossip magazines.”
“And yet you remember them.” Tony smiled easily and gestured Stephen over to have a seat which he ignored in favor of standing right where he had just portalled in.
“Point.” Stephen said simply.
Tony froze.
“I’m sorry what was that?”
“You have a point.” Stephen’s face was impassive but he shuffled slightly on his feet where he stood.
In that moment Tony felt something between them shift. Their customary greeting of back and forth lost all of its momentum as they were thrust into uncharted territory.
“Are you feeling okay?” Tony asked finally. His eyes narrowed as he took in the sorcerer fully for the first time since he arrived. He noted his closed posture and the way he hadn’t made a move to get comfortable like he usually would have even without Tony’s permission. “You’re just gonna let me have the last word on something?” Tony pressed.
“Technically I still had the last word I just used it to concur with your assessment.”
Tony continued to stare at Stephen. He was able to recognize his attempt at normalcy for what it was but rather than go with it he decided he wanted to know what was up with Stephen. After a moment of silence Stephen met Tony’s eyes at last, struggling with their intensity yet still holding them while projecting some yet unnamed emotion.
“I thought for the record that you looked really great.” Stephen said.
“What?” Tony interjected again any other words failing him at the non sequitur.
“Your halloween costumes I mean.” Stephen’s eyes left Tony’s again, a slight blush starting to gather on his high cheekbones as he continued his speech turning into a slight ramble for the first time since Tony had known him. “Of course when people at the hospital were gawking at those magazines on breaks I’d always tell them that it was a waste of time to have such lowbrow entertainment and that you were just ridiculous and attention starved, which I know was ironic coming from me back then, but now I think I can admit to myself that you were actually quite good looking no matter what you wore.”
“I uh thanks, Stephen. Is this...Are you trying to flirt with me?”
Their eyes met again this time both pairs were equally hopeful. “Would that be well received?”
Tony couldn’t help but laugh at that. He had been flirting with Stephen for weeks and the man never so much as batted an eyelash, now Stephen was at last reciprocating and it was the most tragically adorable thing he had ever seen. He had figured since the man was normally so quick with his words that if he ever felt the same way he would say something smooth as hell and have Tony’s pants on the ground in a half a second. In reality he was honest and sweet and heaven help them both but it was totally working.
Stephen looked absolutely devastated not knowing the source of Tony’s laughter and well, he couldn’t have that.
“No no no. Hey! None of that. Come here.” Tony held out his arms beckoning Stephen in for a hug. The man looked hesitant at first perhaps unsure of Tony’s intentions but in the end something won out on his face and he came forward wrapping his arms around Tony’s waist and burying his burning face into Tony’s shoulder. He relaxed into the touch as Tony’s sure hands stroked his back underneath the cloak which rippled restlessly before settling.
“So you kinda like me huh?” Tony said after a minute, still stroking Stephen’s back and allowing him to hide his face in his shoulder even though bending at that angle could not have been comfortable for his impossible long neck.
A muffled sound in the affirmative was all he got back which made him smile and look upwards to contemplate how on earth he was so lucky.
“Well that’s super convenient, because I like you too.” Stephen untucked his head and Tony was able to meet his eye as he continued. “I was starting to think you weren’t interested.”
Stephen looked a little sheepish at that. “I’m sorry Tony I’m just not very good at feelings. Acknowledging them, talking about them,” Stephen trailer off as Tony’s hand came up to caress his cheek reverently.
“We don’t have to talk about them now if you don’t want. You can show me.”
Stephen inhaled sharply as Tony slid closer almost as if having him that close stole the air from his lungs.
“Can I kiss you?” Tony murmured lips mere centimeters from Stephen’s still giving him time to back away even as he felt the other man trembling and pulling him closer.
When their lips met it was sweet and slow at first each of them melting into the slightest press from the other. Stephen’s lips were soft with a slight texture on the bottom one where it had healed from splitting during a fight. Tony decided to take the opportunity to explore that texture with his tongue. When Stephen opened his mouth giving Tony more to explore and letting out a small pleased hum from somewhere in the back of his throat, suddenly all traces of slow and sweet were gone both men going for it like their lives depending on it.
Tony was pleasantly surprised when they broke off from the kiss and he found himself being guided backwards and laid out on the workbench so that Stephen could have more leverage to continue kissing the living daylights out of him.
They might have gone on like that for a while if it hadn’t been for-
“Peter?” Stephen said suddenly his eyes refocusing across the room.
Tony tilted his head all the way back from his position sprawled halfway across the bench and met the teen's horrified gaze.
‘Well shit.’ He and Stephen were off to a great start already. Tony made a mental note to tell Friday to set an alert system for authorized personnel in addition to unauthorized in the future depending on what activities he was engaging in that may or may not have just scarred his favorite intern for life.
“Hey Pete!”
Stephen slid off and away from Tony reaching down to heft him off the workbench and to his feet so that he could face Peter with some form of dignity.
Tony stood slightly behind Stephen as he could see Peter’s whole frame tense the confusion and horror on his face morphing into an expression rarely seen there. It was stone cold anger and it was all directed right past Stephen at him.
“What are you thinking there Pete?” Tony was beyond confused. Granted Peter had just caught his two mentors in the middle of a heated make out session so confusion he could understand, disgust maybe would have been a bit disappointing but at least he would know where it was coming from. There was no mistaking the clench of Peter’s jaw for anything other than absolute and completely baffling fury.
“I can’t believe you guys. Is this why you’ve both been spending time without me?”
A not so tiny part of Tony that was admittedly petty wanted to point out that Peter had started the whole hanging out separately thing but he kept quiet when Stephen stepped forward and spoke.
“Peter I thought you knew. What we talked about earlier-”
Peter’s anger seemed to ebb then and Tony could see tears start to form where a second ago there had been only hardness to cover up the hurt.
When Peter spoke again his voice came out so small for once sounding like the shy kid he was.
“I thought...When you told me, I thought you were talking about-” Peter cut himself off the words not coming out at all. Tony thought he heard him murmur something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like ‘so stupid’.
Understanding dawned on Stephen’s face while Tony’s was still screwed up in confusion.
Tony watched what happened next as though it were unfolding in slow motion.
Peter's face screwed up in anger. Stephen stepped forward reaching out a hand toward Peter to try and comfort him and Peter's face contorted further, not wanting Stephen's pity, not wanting to be touched or consoled. Without thinking Peter slapped his hand away.
Peter and Tony both froze in shock all thoughts of their situation going silent but the effect on Stephen was instantaneous.
All color drained from his face and he cried out short and sharp in a combination of surprise and pain doubling over and pulling his hand to his chest as if to protect it. A combination of the fact that Stephen's hands were already damaged and the fact that Peter was a very emotional, super strength endowed individual made for an excruciating level of pain.
Tony recovered first from his shock rushing to hold Stephen and ease him down onto a work bench while rubbing soothing circles into his back that heaved with labored breaths.
Peter started on in horror at what he'd done before starting to apologize profusely and come towards them.
When Tony on instinct pulled Stephen into his chest and further from Peter he could see that just that small move thoroughly broke the teen's already beaten heart.
Peter turned and ran from the workshop.
After Peter ran out of the lab Tony scanned Stephen’s hand for any damage ignoring his pleas that it was not that serious and that he had just been more surprised than hurt. Once he was assured that no lasting damage had been done other than some nasty bruising around the metal pins Stephen had looked a little sad and had told him that the bruising was actually normal from using his hands in the field. Tony filed that little nugget of information away for later, resolving to design a way to alleviate the pain that Stephen always shouldered with such class.
That done, he and Stephen sat down across from each other to address the elephant that had just fled the room.
“So,” Tony began “It seemed like you knew what caused all that.” He waved his hands dramatically at the lab at large.
“Before I came here I wasn't sure how you would react to my feelings for you so I sought Peter's advice. I chickened out though and didn't directly tell Peter who I was talking about. I think he reacted the way he did to seeing us together for a number of reasons one being that when I spoke with him earlier today he may have thought I was talking about him.”
Tony sat back eyes going wide with shock. “Why would he think that?”
“I didn’t give him many details about who I was interested in but I did say that the person was a fellow hero, a close friend of mine, and that people may look at our relationship in a certain light given the age difference between us.”
“Okay…” Tony stared at the wall already knowing the answer to his next question. “Why would Peter be so upset that you’re interested in me?”
Stephen knew that Tony probably just didn’t want to say what they both had figured out so he remained silent until Tony would meet his gaze again.
“Tony, It is perfectly normal for teenagers to develop a crush or a fixation with someone older. While this is an awkward situation the good news is that for whatever reason Peter seems to have chosen me and not someone with bad intentions.”
Tony got up and began to pace. He trusted Stephen and knew that nothing untoward was going on but he also didn’t want to even think about the possibility that someone would ever take advantage of Peter. After steering himself off of that particular line of thinking Tony focused on what he should do next.
Stephen fell silent and simply tracked Tony’s agitated walk until all of a sudden he just stopped. When he turned back to face Stephen it was with new determination.
“Alright Endora C’mon we’ve got to go.”
“Go where?” Stephen asked scrunching his face up at both the nickname and the sudden change in Tony’s attitude.
“To end the cycle of shame.” Tony said as if that explained everything and then he turned and headed for the door leaving Stephen nothing left to do except follow him.