New Beginnings
I wouldn’t want anything else.
It sounded so much like a promise, especially when said with that soft smile on his face, an expression that was very different from any other he had ever seen on the doctor. Maybe that was why it almost left him breathless.
“Now,” Strange said, suddenly standing up, giving the moment for finished, “we should probably visit the infirmary.”
“You go ahead, I’ll stay here,” Tony answered, turning back to the already twilight sky.
“I believe to remember you were held by Thanos like some kind of stress ball.”
“Worried about me, Sabrina?” he answered with a smirk on his face.
“If that makes you cooperate, then of course,” he admitted, although his sarcastic tone seemed to denote quite the opposite.
“Did that actually work with any of your patients?”
“Usually, it only took my pretty face to convince them,” there was again, that confident wink. “However, given our current post-battle appearance, I would understand a decrease on its efficiency.”
“Talk about yourself, Elphaba. Stark’s charm can overcome many obstacles.”
“Including a crooked nose?” unfortunately for Tony, one of his hands betrayed him and moved towards his face.
Strange smiled in victory. He then bended a little and offered his hand to help him to stand up. Although he tried to look annoyed at such treatment, he secretly admitted that he kind of liked having him worrying about his well-being… even if it was probably as the doctor he once was.
“Will I get a lollipop afterwards, doc?”
“Only if you behave,” replied Strange grinning back.
Unfortunately, there was no lollypop afterwards. Instead, they were guided to their guestrooms where they could rest and recover for the victory party that was going to be held that same night. Apparently, Wakandan technology was enough to make sure there was no one suffering from major injuries and, most importantly, nobody could say “no” to the king and princess of Wakanda.
“I have to go back to the Sanctum, make sure everything is in order,” of course, Strange had to be the exception.
“And how do you plan to get there? There’s no transportation available and I’m almost certain you used most of your magical energy when fighting Thanos,” answered the ever so calm T’Challa. It was quite impressive how easily Wakandans seemed to accept the existence of “magic”… maybe they were hiding some tricks of their own, just as they used to do with their technology. One could never know.
“I just need to rest a couple of hours and I’ll be ready to go,” Strange decided stubbornly, leaving towards the guestrooms area.
Tony wanted to stop him, but what could he tell him? “You promised me you’d stay" was out of question. He wasn’t even sure if the doctor said what he said because he considered him a friend or simply because he saw him as a valuable acquaintance or somehow felt responsible for him. So instead, he decided to leave to his own room and, after calling Pepper, calming her down and summarizing the events to her as well as making sure May was informed about Peter’s whereabouts, he took a well-deserved nap. By the time he woke up, it was almost time for the party and he couldn’t help but wonder if sleep came so easily because of the exhausting day he had or whatever scented thingy they put on his pillow. Maybe both.
***
It was quite impressive how they were able to prepare everything in such a short notice. The doors opened to reveal a saloon decorated in a minimalistic yet elegant way, with a band playing music he’d never heard before and a large table with different dishes, some more familiar than others, probably Wakandan cuisine, along with smaller tables close by and a mini-bar.
After being greeted by T’Challa and the former queen, who were talking with Okoye along with another woman he hadn’t met before, he found out that most of the guests were already there. The first one recognized was Rhodey or, as he had decided to call him, “the traitor” (they will have to talk about it eventually). Unfortunately, he was already talking with Wilson and Rogers. Barnes was nowhere to be seen and he wasn’t sure if those were good or bad news. Instead of dwelling on that, he continued scanning the room until he found another familiar face. He almost went towards Bruce, but then noticed he was with Romanov, who seemed to be trying to convince him to join Vision and Maximoff on the dancefloor. An awkward situation he definitely wanted to avoid.
He finally gave up, although he wasn’t exactly sure of what he was looking for in the first place. Or maybe he was, but he decided he needed a drink before addressing that issue, and also, it would be useful in case the Winter Soldier finally decided to show up. So, with that in mind, he went towards the bar, where Thor, Valkyrie, Heimdall and (unfortunately) Loki were already settled. On his way, he couldn’t help overhearing Shuri and Peter’s conversation:
“So, are you planning to wear that mask all the party?” was asking a rather amused Shuri.
“Mr. Stark has a strict policy of keeping my identity secret, at least until I’m legally adult… I mean, until I…” Shuri laughed.
“So now I know that you are an American teenager… Hm. That reduces the list of suspects quite a lot,” she announced with fake seriousness, but apparently her playfulness was missed by the kid, who even with his mask was noticeably panicking. Fortunately, the girl evidently took pity on him, as she then added, “unless you’re hiding a British accent.”
“I wish! Girls love British accents,” he said dramatically. Tony decided that he will later have to sit down with the kid and give him some flirting advice.
“Oh, do we?” Incredibly enough, she seemed to find his clumsiness rather funny. “You will be quite surprised then…”
Maybe the kid didn’t need his help after all.
Once in the bar, he asked for his Scotch and was about to greet the Revengers when he noticed they were already way too submerged on their own discussion. So instead, he decided to drink a couple of glasses in silence and just relax, after all, he might as well deserve that.
“’Oh, I miss you too, Black Spider. And I love your blond hair, you’re probably the only one who can pull off something like that’,” was saying Loki with an amused smile on his face. It took Tony a couple of seconds to realize he was pretending to read Bruce’s lips, who was now dancing with Romanov.
“It’s Black Widow,” was Thor’s plain answer as he drank his own glass of beer empty.
“You have to admit she kicks ass,” commented Valkyrie drinking from her own glass with the same enthusiasm. Maybe that was something common among Asgardians.
“Hush now, Brunnhilde! You shouldn’t tell him that,” scolded Loki theatrically, “what we have here it’s obviously a matter of looks.”
“And how is that supposed to make him better?” asked an annoyed Valkyrie, or Brunnhilde, now he was confused.
“Oh, it wasn’t,” shrugged Loki, “I’m just stating the facts.”
“He likes her independent nature,” observed Heimdall thoughtfully.
“Also known as ‘she’s kickass’,” reminded Valkyrie triumphal.
“Okay, I’ll grant you that,” surrendered Loki, “the point is that there is no need to be petty about it.”
“I’m not petty,” retorted Thor automatically.
“Right… you’re just moping,” mocked Loki, “or brooding, if you prefer,” he added after getting a glare from Valkyrie.
“But really, what’s his story with this woman? Did they sleep together or something?”
“I… don’t think so? Or did they…? Stark!” he called turning towards him. Apparently, they did notice him after all. “It’s not really important, but do you happen to remember what kind of thing was going on between Banner and Romanoff?” although he was all smiles, Tony could almost swear he heard his voice going an octave higher.
“Um… I believe it got its wings cut before it could even take off,” and now he felt ashamed of not knowing what happened exactly between those two. What kind of best friend was he? Yes, once again he could argue that he was too busy focusing on Wanda’s induced vision and later on defeating Ultron, but still… he could have asked.
“What?” questioned a clearly confused Thor while Loki snickered, Valkyrie rolled her eyes and Heimdall, well, he just remained silent, “I’m asking about Banner and Romanoff’s affair not some… bird.”
“No, what I mean is that…!”
“Could I talk with you for a minute?” saved by the bell, or so he thought until he saw who was addressing him. “Please?”
Needless to say, that was probably one of the first times he was face to face with Barnes without him trying to potentially kill him.
“No,” he finished his half-started Scotch from one gulp, not really sure how much he had drank already, and stood up, ready to leave if it was necessary.
“I know you have the right to feel angry, but I need you to hear me out.”
Maybe it was because he wasn’t wearing his battle clothing nor carrying any visible weapon (unless you counted his prosthetic arm) and that made him look less intimidating, or maybe it was because he made the rookie mistake of drinking without having eaten anything since breakfast. Whatever it was, he found himself having a conversation with the Winter Soldier.
“Please do it fast before I finish my mental list of why this is a bad idea,” he shouldn’t make an scandal like earlier, at least, not in Peter’s presence.
“I’m sorry for what happened with your parents… I saw one of your father’s expositions once, he really was something...”
“I know, I know, you were brainwashed,” he interrupted, not wanting to relive that moment.
“Alright,” Barnes nodded. “Let’s leave it at that. However, I wasn’t brainwashed when we decided that even if I was cured I should be kept secret from the public. I needed to rest, we all agreed on that. But of course, I had to tell Steve and we started talking…”
“I really don’t want to know the details,” this was definitely torture, maybe Thanos did succeed killing him and this was hell.
“The point is we got engaged but didn’t tell you nor anyone who wasn’t from our closest circle because my return and recovery wasn’t supposed to be known… at least until things fixed up a little. But then, well, you know what happened-”
“Yes, an intergalactic thread was needed for you and Steve to gather the balls to tell me,” it took him a moment to recompose, but when he did he had a sad smile on his face.
“That’s not it. He never wanted to hurt you… Believe it or not, he cares about you. That’s actually the reason I want you to know that I hope we can someday be friends. Steve is impulsive, he always has been, and he really regrets how he handled things back then,” he sighed, taking a couple of minutes to decide whether to say what he was about to say next. “And for the record, he really liked you, you know? And probably still does,” he added with what seemed to be a smile.
“Maybe, but only when you are not around.” It actually felt good to say it.
“Any problem?” of course Rogers had to come to the rescue. He even had the gut of putting his arm over Barnes’ shoulders, pulling him closer to his chest as if he was the one in need of protection… and from no one else but him! Okay, to be fair, Barnes was trying to be nice and he evidently wasn’t, but after all that happened that day he wasn’t really in a mood for playing “nice”.
“Point proven,” fortunately, or not, before he could add his very polished “now fuck off, Rogers”, they were interrupted.
“Dr. Stark, your fiancée is here,” announced Strange arriving with Pepper, who looked quite comfortable holding from his arm, a scene he decided to ignore in favor of focusing on the words he said. He felt confused for a moment, until he remembered that he made public his so-called engagement with her. An engagement that was not only fake but also officially over.
“Ugh, don’t call me that, Merlin!” he answered making a face of disgust. Obviously for the title and not because how uncomfortably good those two looked together. “And what did you do with your wizard gear?” he asked noticing how his ugly robes were now replaced by a pretty neat suit.
“Wong forced me to change, apparently I should ‘represent the rest of the sorcerer community accordingly’,” he said with a dramatic sigh.
“It certainly does work in your favor,” smiled Pepper, “don’t you agree, Tony?” she said looking at him after managing to give both Rogers and Barnes a formal yet cold smile.
“Yes, I mean…” he really hated her for putting him in that situation. “Excuse us,” he pulling the doctor away from them, leaving Pepper to handle herself.
“You sure about that? She almost crushed my arm on our way here when she saw you talking with those two,” informed Strange with a concerned tone too exaggerated to be believable.
“Pepper knows better than anyone how to destroy your enemy without even starting a fight,” once that sentence left his lips, he realized how little sense it made.
“That it’s not surprising, considering she even said she could make it ‘look like an accident’…” he laughed, but then stopped suddenly. “You don’t seem so well,” commented the doctor stopping their tracks and forcing him to look at him, “and you smell quite intoxicated.”
“Do I? I don’t think you need to worry though, I know how to handle my alcohol.”
“Of course you do,” he answered rolling his eyes. “What’s the matter? No. Don’t answer that, it’s quite obvious why you are upset.”
“Oh, really? Does it has to do anything with your annoying… beard?”
“I will add that to the list of things you envy about me,” Strange replied nonchalantly, “but you wouldn’t drink that much out of envy, so we will just discard that, at least for now. Then, there is the fact that Rogers and Barnes are engaged now-”
“I already told you I don’t care-”
“-and how they lied and hide it from you,” Strange proceeded ignoring his disruption. “But we talked about it and when I left you, well, you seemed quite at ease.”
He could tell him how dealing with his parents murderer slash reason why he and Rogers weren’t in good terms anymore was more easy said than done, but instead he just answered, “why are you here? What happened to your ‘I have to go back to the Sanctum, make sure everything is in order’?”, Strange just smirked.
“I didn’t know my activities were of any of your concern,” Strange said smugly, “but if you really must know I did go to the Sanctum and then talking with Wong I had the idea, reason why I contacted Miss Potts, who then decided to use me as her personal mean of transportation.”
“She’s quite lovely,” he said graciously.
“Quite lovely, indeed,” Strange agreed with the same amount of politeness.
Neither of them were able to keep their straight face.
He didn’t really want to, but he then added, “just so you know, Pepper is single.”
“Oh, I know that. I just thought that introduction would be more dramatic,” Strange smiled.
“Wait, how do you know about that?”
“Well, that was basically her greeting when I went to see her. ‘Hello, Doctor Strange, I’m glad to see you. And no, I’m not really engaged with Tony’,” he quoted and Tony had to roll his eyes. She really wasn’t going to waste her time.
“Well, why are you still talking with me then?”
“What do you mean?” he frowned.
“I mean, that you and her…”
“Care if I interrupt you?” Pepper asked, apparently finished with whatever she had to say.
“Of course, meanwhile, I’ll get something to drink,” Strange made his great escape towards the bar.
“Oh my God, Tony, how can you be so dense?” she asked as soon as the doctor left. Tony Stark, renowned genius, with prizes and titles to back that up, was getting a look that made him wonder if all his life he had just been lucky.
“Huh?” so eloquent. Yup, definitely the genius of the century.
“Did he tell you why he’s here?”
“Why? Because Wong asked him to,” he said snapping out of his thoughts. “One would have thought that after the moving talk we had he wouldn’t decide to leave as soon as it was over.”
“That’s the lie you came up to? Seriously?” Pepper didn’t seem very pleased, glaring to Strange as he returned with their drinks. “So, you were forced to come?”
“I never said that, he just assumed,” Strange said in his defense. Quite a wise wizard to be scared of a woman in stilettos.
“Stephen wants to join the Avengers,” she declared taking her glass of champagne from his hands. “He just left because he had to ask for permission from his wizard team to have a second job as Earth defender.”
“Oh.”
“Yes, ‘oh’,” Strange echoed, “I didn’t tell you that for you to spoil it.”
“Sorry, I wasn’t going to let you pull an act and make Tony beg you to join the team.”
“I wasn’t going to beg,” protested Tony gaining a raised eyebrow as well as an amused smile.
“Don’t laugh Strange, you’re still on probation,” she warned noticing she wasn’t the only one having fun with the situation.
“But the Avengers are over…”
“New Avengers, Young Avengers, Avengers 2.0… we can later look for a name that doesn’t have copyright issues,” said Pepper dismissively. “You already reestablished the compound, and I heard from a little bird that Thor and Bruce were expecting to join the team… of course, if you accepted other new recruits,” she gave a quick look towards the bar and smiled to the Revengers who raised their glasses approvingly, one of them adding an extra wink. “And of course, Rhodey and Vision are on board… and like it or not, the kid too once he finds out.”
“But what about our merry-go-lucky couple and their kids?” he said referring to the deserting Avengers.
“They are still fugitives, they should take care of that before joining, don’t you think?” the world may think he was the genius, but it was impossible for him to imagine how far he would have gone without her.
“Is it a good moment to remind you about Fury’s message regarding certain Captain Marvel?” of course FRIDAY was going to choose that moment to finish connecting and speak up from his earbud.
“Okay, okay… I’ll think about it,” he said, the smile on his face already betraying him.
“That was supposed to be my line,” Strange reminded him with an offended tone.
“What did I tell you? You don’t have to lie…”
“Right, I just love to see your face,” okay, one thing was saying it and another very different was hearing him say it. Specially so serious, it almost sounded like if it was true.
“Tony, you are drooling,” whispered Pepper as she walked past him on her way towards the bar to greet their new allies.
“Thank you, Stephen,” he said once she left. Given his expression, he definitely caught the doctor by surprise. He chuckled, “don’t let it go to your head."
“Too late for that,” Strange finally recomposed. “May I ask why are you thanking me, exactly?”
“For giving me a chance, it’s been a while,” he smiled.
“Then, it’s been a pleasure, Tony,” Strange answered, returning the gesture.
Maybe things weren’t so bad after all.