Chapter 1
He fucking hates this, always has but he promised Rhodey he’d try so here he is trying. Tony already knows its not going to work; it never does, never has no matter how well he knows or doesn’t know the person. He’s tried with Rhodey and Pepper, and god knows he’s probably slept with way too many strangers trying to figure out what the hell is wrong with him but he’s basically come to the conclusion that he’s broken. Most days he’s fine with that, actually. You get used to being too much of something for everyone around you. Too smart, too sarcastic, too mouthy, too emotionally closed off, too involved in his work- ‘too much’ is Tony’s MO.
When the door opens softly he’s already tense but he at least has the benefit of a blindfold to keep this interaction as impersonal as possible not that that’s what he wrote on that piece of paper that’s supposed to function as a guide of likes and dislikes. None of the shit on it applies to him anyways so he spent most of the time writing snarky comments.
“‘Notoriously difficult,’” a smooth, attractive voice says and Tony’s attention is peaked, “is code for ‘I’m an incompetent Dom’. You aren’t difficult at all, people are just too stupid to figure out what you actually like.” A hand falls into his hair, softly caressing the top of his head and he leans into it somewhat unconsciously before pulling back a little because that’s embarrassing. The hand follows him anyways. “None of that- there’s no need to be embarrassed about what you dolike and believe me, there is not a thing that can surprise me these days.”
Tony snorts, “I’m sure I can manage.”
“Unless I find you with a knife wielding tentacle in your ass I assure you, nothing you do will be a surprise.”
A knife wielding- “you used to be a doctor. One that worked in the ER, I’m guessing.”
The hand on his head gives him a soft pat. “You’re quite intelligent, though your snarky comments on your intake sheet told me that,” he says. Intake sheet- another reference to this guy’s medical past. “But no, I was a surgeon. I had a friend who spends a stupid amount of time in the ER and honestly the consultations I’ve had to do.” He imagines that the Dom shakes his head at that and Tony figures it’s warranted. He befriended some cursing students when he’d been in school and they came back with some impressive tales of the kinky deep gone wrong.
“You have a slight tremor in your hand. Parkinson’s?” he asks.
“No, car accident. Crushed my hands and ended my career,” he murmurs.
“That’s depressing,” Tony says in too chipper a tone.
He gets a hum of agreement. “You will call me Strange. Doctor Strange, if you must,” he says and Tony snorts and starts laughing.
“‘Doctor Strange’? Kubrick fan?” he asks because honestly that’s the only explanation.
That earns him an annoyed sigh. “No, that’s actually my last name.”
“Your last name is ‘Strange’? You actually assed ran around with the moniker ‘Dr. Strange’? Are you a super villain? Because with a name like that you have an obligation to be an unethical doctor who runs creepy human experiments. Seriously- do you have doctor friend named ‘Dr. Fear?’” he asks because that’s just too good. He’s rambling, and probably annoying his Dom but that’s nothing new and frankly he doesn’t particularly care. This was ruined when he walked in, he might as well make fun of the guy’s name.
The mini rant earns him a long sigh. “How is it that even with a white sounding name it stillconsistently ends up the butt of a joke?” Strange asks more to himself than Tony.
“You’re not white?” he asks, not that he cares really. But he’s curious.
“Asian,” Strange tells him and Tony snorts.
“Like… from the whole continent?” he asks, knowing that joke will either go totally wide or land, no in between.
It earns him a laugh though, and the hand in his hair gives him another pat. “Clever boy. Nepali, specifically. Though my grandmother would be disappointed to know I can’t stand the cuisine. The tea though, that is excellent.”
So he’s a tea snob, go figure. “I prefer coffee,” Tony says.
Strange makes a disgusted noise. “Bean water,” he says distastefully.
Tony rolls his eyes, blindfold be damned. “As if leaf water is more enticing.”
“Tastes better black than any coffee I’ve ever suffered with,” Strange mumbles.
“Did you suffer a head injury in that car accident?” Tony asks, throwing out another joke that’ll either land or go wide on purpose.
“Testy pet,” Strange says though without malice. “I didn’t. Frankly that was something of a miracle not that I would have agreed with that at the time.”
“You were attached to your career, I’m guessing?” Tony knows plenty of doctors that are and more than aren’t. Jobs are hit and miss for fulfillment.
“Probably more than what’s healthy,” Strange admits.
“What led you here?” Because that’s one fuck of a career change, surgeon to professional Dom.
His inquiry earns a soft laugh. “You need medical training for the job anyways, and people used to joke that I was some kind of sub whisperer when I still worked as a surgeon. Its not true of course, I just happen to be good at reading people, but I still got treated like some kind of Sherlock Holmes.”
“Well, guess you must have had good bedside manner,” he says and Strange snorts.
“Oh god no, I was awful at it. I never really bothered with calming people unless it was the goal was to get them to stop speaking to me. I’ve been reliably informed that I have the bedside manner of Hannibal Lecter.”
Tony frowns, head tilted to the side a bit. “Lecter was a psychiatrist, wasn’t he? Theoretically he’d have good bedside manner. Assuming you weren’t rude, anyway. And depending on which depiction you’re going with.”
Strange snorts and laughs, “that’s what I said,” he tells Tony, fingers in his hair caressing him softly again. Tony has no idea whyhe decides to make an image of Strange as a cannibal serial killer considering he’d end up Hannibal’s victim in five seconds flat but it comes anyway.
“Sometimes people compare me to that one guy from Wolf of Wall Street but the way they do it makes me wonder if they know its satire,” he says. He’s always upheld as this paradigm of success but when it happens all the things that don’t fit the mold are never mentioned. His abuse as a child, his subsequent substance abuse- unless its mentioned as a quirky personality trait, his being a sub, his well documented mental health problems, none of thatmakes it into the Tony Stark Success Story. Just all the other stuff that makes people feel comfortable and safe.
“Well,” Strange says. “It could be worse. You could be Tyler Durden.”
Tony laughs, “first rule of Fight Club- tell me about my fucking imaginary friend.”
“You have a clear preference for satire,” Strange murmurs and Tony shrugs.
“I’m more of an action fan, actually. Anyone who doesn’t like Die Hard is deranged.” That includes Pepper.
Strange sighs, “never understood the appeal.”
Tony makes an offended noise and turns towards where he’s sure Strange is standing. “First coffew, now this? Next you’ll tell me you don’t like pizza.”
“I’ve never understood the appeal of that either,” Strange tells him and Tony presses his hand to his heart.
“That wounds my little Italian soul.”
Strange gently massages his scalp and it feels nice, especially when he adds the other hand. “I’m sure you’ll survive,” Strange says as he relaxes.
*
He’s doing his best to tryand corral Dummy to his charging station when Rhodey walks in. Tony sighs and gives up on the bot for the time being. He’s going to have to drag Dummy’s ass over there himself but whatever.
“How’d it go? With the Dom?” Rhodey asks and Tony wrinkles his nose. “Badly?” Rhodey asks, wincing.
Tony shakes his head, “no, actually. I have another appointment Saturday, I just don’t see why you need to focus so much on this one thing.” Of all the things Rhodey has or hasn’t said to him why the hell is thisthe sticking point? There’s a million more important things, in Tony’s opinion, that he could chose to focus on but instead Rhodey chooses this.
“I’m just worried about you, Tony,” he says and Tony rolls his eyes.
“Are you?” he asks and Rhodey frowns.
“Yeah man, of course I am,” he says, obviously confused.
“Really? Because you watched me go through a ten year downward spiral and only confronted me when I hit bottom. And I get it; I never would have listened even if you did say something sooner. But you didn’t, and yet you never shut up about this so what is it you’re really concerned about?” he asks.
Rhodey, to his credit, actually thinks about it. Eventually he sighs, “this is an easy fix. Addiction, your mental health problems, your sleep issues, your abandonment issues, your attachment issues- all that takes a whole lot of work to fix and I’m not qualified to help you there. Being an unattached sub? All that takes is an appointment but you’re so resistant to it and I don’t get why.”
Tony gives him a look, “could it be because I’ve only ever hit subspace like five times in my entire life and did it by myself all five times mostly thanks to the dozens of Doms who have all, in some way or another, implied or outright stated something was wrong with me? Doesn’t do much to help any other issue I have to know I’m doomed to fail as soon as I try this shit and always have been. So no, its not an easy fix you just think it is because you don’t deal with problem subs,” Tony tells him.
‘Notoriously difficult’ is code for ‘I’m an incompetent Dom’. Strange’s first words to him. He’d written that on the stupid paper because he figured he could at least give the guy a warning but he’d dismissed it right away. Hell, for the first time in Tony’s life that phrase had made it a Dom’sproblem instead of his. And Strange was witty and amusing, and he has a nice voice- deep and attractive.
Rhodey sighs, “you’re not a problem sub-” he starts but Tony cuts him off.
“You told me I obviously needed therapy. Your words, not mine. Lets not go back on them now that you know they have consequences.” His voice is sharper than he intends but damn, that had hurt. Other people sure, they don’t really know him and yeah it sucks for people to assume something is wrong with you all the time, but for your best friend to say it? That’s so much worse.
“That’s not what I meant, Tony,” Rhodey says and Tony squints.
“What the hell else could you possibly mean by ‘get therapy’, Rhodey? Maybe you didn’t mean it the way it came out but lets be real here, the only conclusion you can draw from that is that you think I’mthe problem here.” Strange is the only person he’s ever dealt with that’s implied that it wasn’t.
*
Stephen has long ago gotten used to subs with strange tastes, or at least strange in the popular opinion. Statistically subs have a wide variety of tastes but it seems like only a few things are acceptable for them to like. The rest get treated as problems and end up quite like Tony though he’s not met anyone who’d been so willing to distrust him upon what wasn’t even sight. It took time, a lot longer than normal, to calm him into at least relaxing his muscles a little but Stephen has always liked a challenge and it’s been a long time since he’s gotten one. Bodies have always come easy to him and no, this isn’t surgery and he doesn’t find it nearly as fulfilling, but he its not a career choice that makes him want to die either. And it pays well.
He’s considering plans for Tony, things to test the waters with, when Wong walks in blessedly with food. “Please tell me you brought Indian,” he says and Wong rolls his eyes.
“I brought Greek because you whined the last time I brought Indian,” he says. Stephen gives him a dirty look even though Wong can’t possibly read his mind to know what he’s in the mood for and he never guesses right. “Oh stop that, I got all your favorites,” he says. “New client?” he asks, nodding at the notebook in his hand as he removes the food from the bag.
Stephen reaches for the salad and nods. “Particularly difficult one,” he says and Wong raises an eyebrow.
“And here I thought you believed Doms were the problem,” he teases.
“They are, but when you’re told your whole life that you’re wrong you end up with issues too. This guy should be fun though, you know I like the difficult ones.” He likes puzzles, solving problems and being a Dom is just as much work with the body as being a surgeon. Its just different areas that need attention, and a whole lot less studying. It still takes a level of expertise and, in his field, open mindedness. People work in all sorts of strange and interesting ways and Stephen likes pinpointing exactly how subs work.
Usually once they figure it out they leave, off to find an actual Dom to test out their newfound likes and dislikes with. Tony, at least, has given him a very detailed list of his dislikes and thanks to his snarky comments Stephen also has a good reason of why. That’s much more telling than Tony probably thinks it is and frankly given how guarded Tony is he’s happy to have some kind of direction. Any kind of pain play, for example, hits every one of Tony’s hard limits and the snippy comment about not enjoying abuse tells him both that Tony probably has a history of it and also that people probably hadn’t listened to him in the past about not liking being hit. Frankly its not Stephen’s tastes either, though he’s good at it. Medical expertise means he knows exactly where to hit, how hard, and how not to leave permanent damage.
“You confuse me,” Wong tells him, shaking his head.
Stephen rolls his eyes, “as if you’re less confusing,” he says. Wong is one of those strange people who seem to lack an orientation entirely though he sometimes partakes anyways, not that he’s fixed to a role. Stephen doesn’t get it, but the medical evidence is undeniable- people like him exist and they’re relatively common. Stephen can’t imagine his life without his orientation but Wong doesn’t seem to care at all. Can’t miss what he never had, he reasons. Stephen happens to know you can, in fact, miss what you’ve never had but finds Wong’s easy acceptance of his lack of orientation impressive given the backlash to it. Not to mention the racism that occasionally accompanies it though Wong has always had a sharp sense of humor and wit about such things.
“I am, its you who’s always on about domination in some kind of way. Me? I just live- much less of a pain in the ass,” Wong says.
To him, maybe. “I assure you, Wong, you are a pain in the ass. My paying your half of the rent says so.”
“Attachment to the material is poison, you know,” Wong says and Steven snorts.
“What a beautiful way to say ‘I’m a freeloader’,” he teases. Wong rolls his eyes at him but its fond. They’ve had this argument a million times and, despite the absolute impracticality of Wong’s conclusion that money and valuing it above all else is the root of all evil, Stephen is somewhat inclined to agree. Doesn’t mean he doesn’t enjoy a certain lifestyle though and Wong tags along moral qualms aside because the man needs to live. And he saves Stephen hiring someone from a cleaning service when Wong does it all.
“Without this freeloader you’d starve,” Wong tells him even though they both know that’s not true. Stephen would just order in like he used to before he met Wong.