School has always come easy for Tony. He’s good at memorizing things, good and thinking outside the box and he loved learning new things. The moment he understood something it was like a door opening and he was exploring a new world.
The hard part of school was the people. Tony may be able to charm business partners and wealthy socialites, but the kids at the expensive boarding schools he was tossed into by Howard were a completely different story.
He doesn’t make friends easily and he watches as kids whisper behind his back everyday he’s there.
MIT is a god send. He has his own room, he has barely any interaction with the people on his floor due to the odd hours he keeps. Most of his classes are independent studies so there’s only him in the class.
It’s heaven.
He makes his first friend when he’s walking to the lab space one of his professors lets him use. Ahead of him is a kid maybe a year or two older than him walking with a folder full of papers in his arms.
Tony catches sight of Tiberius Stone at the same time Stone catches sight of the kid and as the two pass Stone knocks the folder into the air and mutters something derogatory under his breath as he passes and Tony knows what he’ll be doing after class.
When Stone is gone Tony starts gathering up the papers that the kid dropped and then heads over to give them back.
“Thanks,” the kid mumbles.
“I’m Tony Stark,” Tony says.
“James Rhodes,” he says.
“Hi there Rhodey, wanna help he superglue everything in his room down?” Tony asks and Rhodey looks at him with narrow eyes and then they widen.
“You’re serious,” he says and Tony grins and nods.
That’s how Tony manages to make his first friend.
His second friend comes in the form of the shy, quiet, brown curled kid that walks into Tony’s lab looking for the chem lab. Tony decides then and there that Bruce Banner is his little brother now. Sorry, he doesn’t make the rules.
Tony has one love in his life besides his projects and his two brothers. That’s coffee. If he’s not in class, in the lab, or with Rhodey or Bruce, he’s camped out in the library drinking as much coffee as he can. That’s where he meets Stephen Strange. Stephen is one of the baristas. Working his way to pay for his pre-med and bio degree.
He’s snarky, smart, and oh so hot he could melt the sun. Tony spends even more time in the cafe, talking with Stephen and trying his best to flirt, normally he flirts as easily as he breathes, but there’s something about Stephen that makes him tongue tied...but Stephen says he likes it and Tony is blushing harder than he has in his entire life.
After that he practically lived in the library. Learning Stephens schedule so they can walk together and talk on breaks and it's the best part of the day for Tony.
Stephen instinctively knows when Tony's had a bad day and makes sure that there is a little bit more sugar in his coffee than normal and Tony loves him for it.
The day he decides to ask Stephen out he spends the entire day in his room trying on outfit after outfit while Rhodey look on from the bed.
“Tony, the two of you are going to play pool in the game room. I’m not even sure if that qualifies as a date,” Rhodey says and Bruce elbows him.
“Shush, if both think it’s a date then it’s a date. Stephen does think that this is a date right?” Bruce says and Tony looks at his shoes.
“Tony,” Bruce says.
“I asked if he wanted to shoot pool after his night class was over,” Tony says and Bruce groans.
“I swear how can you manage to flirt with everyone with a pulse except Stephen Strange?” Rhodey asks.
“Because the outcome of that flirting doesn’t really matter to me, but flirting with Stephen matters,” Tony whines.
Meanwhile, in a dorm building across campus:
“I don’t understand what the big deal is. All you are doing playing pool, it’s hardly the Ritz, especially considering you lied about having class to have time to get dressed up,” Loki says from where he is sitting on Stephen’s bed.
“It matters because this is the first time he’s managed to get the words out to ask me out. I want to encourage it to happen again. Wong, red or blue? Wong? WONG!” Stephen shouts and his roommate pulls his headphones off to give him a glare.
“Red shirt or blue shirt?” Stephen says.
“Tony’s always wearing red,” Wong says.
“Thor told me that on you Tony likes blue,” Loki says.
“Oh so the two of you are talking again?” Wong asks.
“That is a conversation over drinks while Stephen enjoys his date,” Loki says.
“I say he should wear no shirt and just cut to the chase,” Wong says.
“Wong, I don’t want to have sex with Tony,” Stephen says. When Wong levels a look at him Stephen adds, “I don’t want to have sex with Tony now. Everyone around his aside from Rhodey, Bruce and Thor seem to only want him for sex or money and he’s worth more than that,” Stephen says.
“That might be the most sickeningly sweet thing you have ever said. Get out,” Loki says.
“This my room,” Stephen says.
“And you are also going to be late,” Loki says pointing to the clock and Stephen runs out the door.
“Loki, why is that clock fifteen minutes fast?” Wong asks checking his phone and seeing that Stephen is not late.
“To make sure he got there on time,” Loki says.
“Aww you do care,” Wong says.
“Tell anyone and they will never find your body,” Loki says.
“Just make sure to dispose of me with my Beyonce cds,” Wong says and Loki scowls but goes back to making a mess of Stephen’s perfectly made bed. Glad that Bruce is going to keep an eye on Tony and make sure he leaves on time too. Maybe he and Bruce should plot their meddling in their friends love lives over coffee or something next time.
Stephen skids to a stop outside the game room at the exact same time Tony arrives screeching to halt.
Thor smiles from where he’s working the front desk of the game room and sends a quick text to both Bruce and Loki saying that the two are there.
“Hey,” Tony says rubbing the back of his head looking at the game room is a little bit of disdain.
“Did you want to play pool?” Stephen asks and Tony sighs.
“No, but heard it was something you liked so I thought why not try that,” Tony admits and waits for Stephen to laugh and call him pathetic.
“Tony, I play pool to hustle money off of dumb asses,” Stephen says.
“I’m an idiot. I’m sorry for making you walk all the way out here,” Tony says.
“The night doesn’t have to end so soon. Come on, I have a surprise for you,” Stephen says and grabs Tony’s hand as they walk across campus to the engineering labs.
“Why are we at the labs?” Tony asks remembering the time Sunset had tried to get him to have sex with her on the lab tables. Most likely to steal his designs or something. She wouldn’t have been the first to try.
“Just come with me,” Stephen says and leads him to Rhodey’s area of the lab.
“Hey! That’s my prototype,” Tony says, how did Rhodey get it? He’d thrown it out when the prosthetic had refused to move properly.
“Rhodey told me last week that you were upset because this wasn’t working right. I know I’m not an engineer but Rhodey helped me and I helped him figure out how to make it work like an actual body works, honestly all you had to do was tweak a measurement on the outer plating,” Stephen says and suddenly he has an armful of excited engineer.
“Thank you. Everyone around here always expects me to be down here building weapons like Howard does. I was starting to think that maybe weapons is all I’m good at making,” Tony says into the fabric of the blue shirt that, in Tony’s opinion, makes Stephen’s eyes look so pretty.
“Of course, I’m assuming Howard wasn’t one for collaboration. But Rhodey told me that you taught yourself biology so you could do this?” Stephen asks.
“Yeah...Howard’s not big on collaboration, he says that if I don’t know how to do something than I am simply useless,” Tony says.
“Tony, never be afraid to ask me if you need help with the medical side of your work,” Stephen says.
“Why would you give up your free time to help me?” Tony asks.
“Because I could use the excuse to spend more time with you,” Stephen says and Tony is crying into the front of his shirt again and Stephen settles a hand into his curls.
“Why?” Tony says.
“Because I like you.”
“Like me? Like, like me?” Tony asks.
“Yes,” Stephen says and Tony hugs him tight.
It’s fifteen years later, Stephen, a successful surgeon stares into the eyes of his loving boyfriend of fifteen years.
“Do you Dr. Stephen Strange take Dr. Anthony Stark to be your lawfully wedded husband?” Stephen doesn’t even blink.
“I do.”
“And do you An…”
“I do,” Tony says kissing Stephen.
“I now pronounce you husband and husband you may now kiss each other,” Tony wastes no time pressing a kiss to Stephen’s lips before dragging him out of the venue and to the press conference that has gathered outside Tony’s company HQ.
“Someone is excited,” Stephen says and Tony nods faster than Stephen can track and Tony gives him a secret kiss before taking the stage.
“Thank you all for coming. We have a couple of announcements so let’s just get through them and then we can all go enjoy the beautiful June weather. I know that when I took over the company a lot of people were upset when I stopped weapons manufacturing. But I feel that I have made leaps in bounds in the world of saving lives rather than taking them, and it all started with a sorta maybe date with my now husband, yes yes I finally tied the knot. On our first date we designed what we hoped would be a prosthetic arm that would help people and it did. It was produced by a small company that under the name Anthony Strange because I could not let Howard know I was making anything other than weapons.
“When I took over I shut that down and moved onto stronger X-Rays with less radiation, better scanners, robotic bone setters to keep in your pockets, lighter hospital equipment, better and cleaner power structures for hospitals. But I never forgot that night after a failed date to play pool when I built something with the love of my life,” Tony says and takes a deep breath and Stephen joins him on stage and holds his hands.
“We are proud to announce the beginnings of Stark Industries new prosthetic line, Strange Prosthetics,” Tony says and Stephen leans down to kiss him as the reporters go crazy. Stephen smiles as he things about how they are going to go to a tropical island and do nothing but design and build prosthetics.
It will be the best honeymoon ever.